Not This One
by T.J. Elise
Summary: SHIELD has used the Tesseract to begin exploring other universes that could potentially threaten Earth. After discovering the Capitol of Panem, SHIELD and the Avengers learn of the Hunger Games. But they're not going to sit back and let them go on. No, if the Avengers have it their way, the 74th Hunger Games will be the last. Even if they have to put their own people into the Games
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to my new story! Totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm giving it a shot. **

**Just to establish a couple things before hand, here.**

**In this story, Panem isn't a part of our world. It's a separate planet, introduced to our world through the power of the rainbow bridge in Thor. **

**Thor agreed to supply our world information of the other galaxies out there, to find out if any are a threat to us. The world of Panem came across SHIELD's radar. After discovering the dictatorship of President Snow and the way the Capitol treated the districts, and also discovering the horror that is the Hunger Games, SHIELD decides to intervene. How? Well, I'm not going to give that away yet!**

**Pairings are Tony/Pepper, Jane/Thor, and Clint/Natasha. Nick Fury, Darcy, Bruce, Steve, and Loki are all in this as well. Ratings for the Mature themes that are the Hunger Games, and also for some language, since I couldn't find a way to write Tony without it.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

"Ohhh...shiny galaxies abroad!" sang Tony, prompting a glare from Pepper. "What?" he asked as innocently as possible.

"Seriously, Tony." said Darcy. "We're only learning about, I don't know, a whole freaking new world here? Would it kill you to shut up for a minute?"

Tony sat down with a small smirk on his face, but turned his attention back to Thor and Loki, who were supposed to be informing them of some new, alien world out there. Fascinating. He checked his Stark Phone with a sigh, checking for a reply from Channing Tatum about the Vegas trip they had been planning. Nothing.

Bruce and Jane, of course, were as attentive as ever. Jane especially, since the wealth of information being opened to her was beyond anything she ever dreamed. Steve looked puzzled, which was no surprise. Most of the talk of new galaxies was beyond him, but he did his best to keep up.

"Which world we covering today, blondie?" asked Tony, ready to get the show on the road.

"There is a world," said Loki. "That our people just became aware of. It is startlingly similar to this one, really."

"My brother and I-" interrupted Thor, inciting a glare from Loki. "Have taken the liberty of venturing into this place."

Loki let out a small chuckle. "And you mortals believed I was evil."

"Uh, Frosty? You took out the core of Manhattan with a creepy, scaly, alien army. If that's not evil...?"

Loki glared at Tony, who simply gave him a patented Stark smirk. Then he realized that his smirk hadn't been patented yet. He made a mental note to talk to Pepper about it later.

"This place," Thor said firmly, "Is known to the inhabitants as the nation of Panem. It's very big, and it's very controlled..." He glanced at Loki, completely losing where he was supposed to go with this. Loki rolled his eyes and motioned for him to go sit next to Jane, which he did happily. Darcy slid a strawberry Pop Tart across the table to him, which made him smile even wider.

"The nation of Panem is something like a communist nation, if I may venture to use your mortal term." Loki said, brisk and informative now that his lug of a not-brother wasn't by his side. "It is run by a very odd place known as the Capitol. The nation's wealth flows into this large center. The rest of Panem is made up of 12, there used to be 13, other districts. Apparently, according to the few locals we were able to talk to without-" He paused to glare at Thor. "Standing out like a sore thumb."

"Brother! That was not my fault! He was disgracing the maiden's honor." Thor said firmly. Apparently, they'd had this conversation before.

"You're not my brother." Loki said. He caught Tony and Darcy mimicking him. "And you're not funny."

"Uh, yeah we are!" laughed Darcy. She and Tony swapped hi-5's across the table.

"Darcy!" said Jane, eyeing her former assistant fondly.

"Tony," said Pepper, eyeing her boyfriend not so fondly.

"As I was saying..." Loki continued. "According to the locals, the Districts were put in place in order to maintain order and control by the Capitol. They are forced to work for the Capitol in various tasks, dependent on their District. District One makes the luxury items, District Three manages electronics and such, and so on."

He paused, and realized that he finally had the attention of the room. He tried not to come across as pleased by this development and continued. "About 74 years ago in your mortal time, the Districts became tired of being subject to the reign of the Capitol. There was a battle, an uprising by the Districts. They were eventually brought down by Capitol, which regained control."

Clint and Natasha had been silent in this conversation thus far. Natasha preferred to stay silent when Loki was around, and Clint was simply sitting back and observing everything. His observations came to a halt when he realized that Thor looked downright furious, and even Loki looked angry with something. Clint realized, his outer facade fading, that Loki didn't just look angry. He looked uncomfortable.

Red lights. Flashing danger zone sign. Clint knew that if the freaking god of Mischief looked uncomfortable about something he was about to say, it could not be good.

"What happened?" he asked, looking unfazed on the exterior.

Loki sighed. "This is where it gets...complicated. The 13th District that I mentioned earlier was wiped out. Destroyed by the Capitol. The rest of the Districts were brought into submission. But the Capitol...it wanted to find a way to regain its control over the Districts. And so they brought something called the Hunger Games into play."

It wasn't stormy outside, but it certainly was across the god of Thunder's face. He muttered something that made Jane look up at him in surprise.

It was Steve who asked the obvious question. "What are the Hunger Games?"

Loki opened his mouth, and then snapped it closed. It became immediately clear that he-the smooth talker-did not know how to explain the Hunger Games to the people within the room.

"Loki," Natasha asked softly. Clint glanced over in surprise at her entering the conversation, his face mirroring Loki's. "What are the Hunger Games?"

"A cruel, sadistic way to maintain power, I can only assume." sighed Loki. "Something that even I would not have dreamt of in the days when I fought to take over your planet. Every year, there is something held that is known to the inhabitants as a Reaping. Two people, one male, and one female are chosen by draw from each District. They are placed in something called an arena, and are pit against each other in a massacre. A fight to the death."

"What kind of sick place is it?" Steve exclaimed, staring at Loki wide eyed. Fury just shook his head.

"Tell them the rest, brother." Thor interrupted.

Realization of how upset this whole Hunger Games thing had made Thor and Loki hit Darcy when Loki did not retort with his infamous "You aren't my brother" line.

Loki ran his hands through his hair. "When all but one stand, that tribute, as they are called, is declared the Victor. The tribute is sent on a District Tour, bathed in riches...the home District receives similar treatment. But..." he fought for words. "The Tributes are children."

Silence reigned in the room for a few moments, before Bruce broke the air with the obvious question. "What," he said, his voice low and deadly. Tony felt for his wristbands, just to be on the safe side. "Do you mean that they're children?"

Thor answered what Loki appeared to be unable to. "What my brother means to say is that those who are chosen for the Games must be between the ages of 12 and 18. That is the law of the Capitol."

Again, there was just silence. Clint leaned forward, no humor within his voice. "This had better be some hell of an Asgardian joke."

"We do not jest, Agent Barton." said Loki coolly, apparently regaining his composure. "We are completely serious about the Panem government's actions."

"How long as this been happening?" asked Natasha.

"For 73 years." sighed Loki. "This will be the 74th."

"No." said Jane firmly.

Everyone turned to stare at her, and the physicist blushed. "I mean, there has to be something we can do. That's just...it's just wrong."

Fury stared at his team. "Does everyone feel the same as Dr. Foster on this?"

Bruce, Clint, and Natasha all nodded tersely. Steve sighed. "It's just...how could you make war a game? With children? As the soldiers? Of course I feel the same."

"Do I get a vote?" Darcy piped up.

Fury glared at her. "No."

"Aw." Darcy pouted. "If I did, I'd say let's kick some bastard butt."

"Stark?" asked Fury.

"Hell yeah!" said Tony, banging the table with affirmation. He smirked in Pepper's direction, who did nothing but shake her head.

"Good." Fury leaned back. "Because that means we have a plan."

"What plan?" asked Steve, leaning forward.

"With Thor and Loki's help in the use of the Tesseract," said Fury. "We have a plan to infiltrate the Hunger Games, and end this reign of...whatever the hell they call it in Panem. We're going to stop the Capitol."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2, here it is! I'm trying to find the balance of moving this plot along at a decent pace without blowing it up...Hopefully I'll figure that part out!**

**However, you don't come here to listen to me ramble, so here we go. The Avengers are going to establish a plan for taking down the Hunger Games. We'll discover who SHIELD is fixing to put into the games, and we'll also discover some mad Loki skills.**

**Just to establish this, because I didn't last chapter, this contains no slash. Nothing, zip, nada. Just so we're clear. If that's what you're hoping for, you won't find it here.**

**Reviews are awesome! They make me happy, and I'm way more focused on getting a chapter done if I know that people are actually interested in reading my work. With that said, let's let our favorite team of heroes take it away!**

"Let me get this straight." Tony said, now pacing behind the row of chairs where the rest of the team sat. "We're having a hostile takeover of the government of a world that we didn't know existed two hours ago?"

"A world with serious control issues." muttered Darcy.

"I think that's exactly what we're doing." said Steve. "We have to, don't we?"

Natasha nodded. "I couldn't sleep...if I knew what we did, and we just let it happen."

"Good." Tony declared, sitting down with a flourish. "What's the plan?"

Fury nodded to Loki, and the lights suddenly dimmed.

Tony snorted. "We do realize that I don't go into dark rooms with someone until the second date, right?"

Darcy chuckled, Bruce just rolled his eyes, and Clint's smirk became slightly more defined.

A slideshow projector came down from the wall, and Loki nodded for the first one. "From what we can tell, the Hunger Games take place in something called an arena, where the young are forced into battle. The arena is made up of a terrain. It can be anything from a snowy wasteland to a ruined city. The details are kept top secret."

The slide flipped through a couple pictures of previous Hunger Games terrains. Thor spoke up. "It appears that the terrain is surrounded by...what is it called, brother?"

Loki rolled his eyes. "A force field, Thor. It keeps the players in, and the outside world, out."

"Um, Papa Smurf?" Tony waved his hand in the air. "Question?"

Loki wasn't sure if he should be insulted by the name, but given that it was Tony calling him it, he glared.

"Why do we need to know this?"

"Because this is your, Bruce's, and Jane's part of the operation." said Fury.

"Me?" Jane said in surprise.

"SHIELD'S top scientific minds. You three will begin your part by figuring out how to penetrate the force field. You won't have a lot of information on it, and it's unfamiliar technology. Once we figure out how to make the safe penetration, we're going to get as many kids out of there as possible. From what Thor says, people capable of defying the Capitol during the Games will be enough to inspire the Districts to take up arms and rebel. And once we have the Districts on our side, it shouldn't take long to end it." Fury explained.

"So then the question is," said Clint, leaning in. "How do we keep those kids safe while they're working on getting into the arena?"

"This is where it gets complicated," said Fury, taking the floor and relieving Loki from further questioning. "The tributes, as they're called, aren't all exactly unwilling participants in this."

"And what the hell does that mean?" asked Tony.

"In the richer Districts, Districts One, Two, and Four specifically, I believe?" Fury looked to Thor and Loki for confirmation, and when he had received it, continued. "Winning the Hunger Games is considered to be an honor, full of glory and pride, and all that crap. The residents of the Districts will send their children to schools, where they are trained to become top assassins, trained to become true competitors within the games. They call them Careers. The Careers are in it to win. They're tough, they're mean, and they're out for the kill. They see the Games as glory, and the other contestants as obstacles to that glory."

The room was silent, and Bruce was simply shaking his head. "So they're not going to be on our side in taking the Games down?"

"Not only will they not be on our side, but no one other than the members of the team we get into the Games will know what the plan is. The whole thing is filmed, and then distributed live all over Panem. Which means that we not only will be unable to get the Careers on our side, but the kids we do get on our side won't be able to know that we're actually fighting to stop the Games."

"That's convenient." muttered Tony.

"Wait," said Natasha, sitting straight up. "What do you mean, the members of the team we get into the Games?"

Fury sighed. "You realize, that if I was not constantly interrupted, I'd be able to explain in a much more timely fashion?"

Natasha rolled her eyes, but remained quiet.

"We need a way to get inside the Capitol, without raising suspicion. Which means that we're going to put some of the team undercover, and bring them into the Games."

"But the Careers, they won't try to kill us?" asked Steve, losing where this was going.

"They most likely will." said Loki. "They aren't the most feeling sort of people, nor are they inclined to perform favors for others."

"Loki's right." said Fury. "Especially against the Careers, but also against some of the others, you'll have to fight back. The goal will be for the team members to form an alliance, one visible to the audience. Once that's done, you'll be gathering tributes together within the arena, building a group, keeping that group alive. We'll be there as fast as we can, but the goal will be to protect as many of the kids in that place as possible. Even if that means eliminating others who are acting as threats to their safety."

Clint stood up. "When do we leave?"

"You don't." Fury said firmly. "Natasha, Thor, and Steve leave in two days."

Steve looked up in surprise, and Clint just glared at Fury. "Maybe, it would be better if he went? No offense, Director, but this isn't exactly...this isn't exactly Germany."

"No, it's not." said Fury. "But you're going to be posing as contestants within the Games. Which means that I need agents who can pass as teenagers. And Barton, no offense, but you can't pass as one. There's no way in hell."

Clint rolled his eyes, and looked like he was about to relent, when he glanced at Natasha. "So you're sending her in there, with no back up whatsoever?"

Natasha gave him her best "I-can-take-care-of-myself" glare. "Clint..."

"She'll have the Captain and I." boomed Thor. "Although I must admit, the absence of Mjolnir will not be ideal."

Steve shook his head. "You're leaving Mjolnir?"

"The Capitol controls all weapons that enter the Arena." Loki explained, starting to look a bit exasperated. Why were these mortals so set on arguing every point? "Mjolnir wouldn't get past them, especially if they couldn't lift it."

"That also means no guns, and no shield." Fury said, pointing at Steve. "You'll have to improvise, unfortunately."

"So where does that leave me?" asked Clint, still looking annoyed that he wouldn't be there to have Natasha's back.

"You'll be in our rescue team, when we go to take the force field down. The Capitol won't just let us waltz in there and grab their tributes. They take this very seriously, and we'll need your skills then, Barton." said Fury.

Natasha leaned back and blew a long sigh. "So, how do you get chosen to go?"

"Your name is drawn, in most districts. In some other districts, where the Careers come from, a name is drawn, but that person rarely goes, since the Careers volunteer." Loki said. "Thor and Steve will have their names drawn. I can arrange that." A smile ghosted his lips. "Thor will be coming from District 10, I believe. The livestock district. Steve will be from District 8. Natasha, due to the level of training, you're going to need to look like a Career. You're District 4, and you'll have to make sure that you volunteer to participate."

"The problem that we're having," said Fury, "Is that the Capitol keeps very close tabs on the people of the Districts. They have files on all of them." He pointed to the three members of his team. "There's no way that these three will pass as 12 year olds. We'll have enough trouble passing them of as 18 year olds."

"I could probably pass as 17, if I really tried." offered Natasha.

"Maybe, but that's not the point. The Capitol begins to keep records at the age of 12." Fury sighed. "How do we get around that?"

"Uh," Tony snorted. "Create bogus records, maybe? Dating back to when they were all 12? I could do that. There's no way their technology is beyond what Stark Industries is capable of."

"What if they want to know about who we are, though?" asked Natasha. "I mean, who our families are. Where we grew up. All that stuff. And won't people within the Districts be suspicious of people they've never seen before?"

"Not necessarily." said Fury.. "From what Thor and Loki have said, in District 10, and even District 8, going to the Hunger Games is virtually a death sentence. Really, as relieved as many of the residents are that it's not their child whose name has been drawn, the chances are that no one will question it. In District 4, it's a larger District. No one knows everyone."

"Anymore questions?" asked Fury. "Nope? Good. Get some rest. Be here early tomorrow morning."

The teams slowly filed out of the room, and Clint briefly heard Tony say something about pulling out the rum. Lots of rum. He ignored that and went to follow Natasha, who had exited almost immediately.

He found her in the gym, beating the snot out of one of the Captain's punching bags. He silently climbed a nearby ladder and eased himself onto the metal landing bar, leaning back slightly.

Whether or not she was aware of his presence, she continued to pound the bag. Left punch, right punch, left punch, right punch. Over and over again.

An hour later Clint climbed down from his roost and walked over to her. Instead of stopping her, he simply went around and grabbed onto the bag, holding it in place. She grunted in response and continued to hit the bag.

Another ten minutes, and she blew out a sigh. Clint peeked around the bag, and saw her sink to the ground with a sigh.

"Tasha?" he said carefully. "You ok?"

She shook her head. "It's so wrong, Clint. It sounds like the Red Room all over."

"I know." What else was he supposed to say? If he asked her, she wouldn't want to talk about it.

So he just sat down beside her, staring at nothing in particular. He wasn't sure how long he was there, listening to nothing but the sounds of their own breathing, Natasha's heavier than his.

"How am I supposed to go in there, Clint? With the goal of killing kids? Like the Career kids do? What...what does that make me?

Clint blew out a sigh. "Maybe you don't make it your goal. Cause if you make it that...I don't know, Tasha. If you make it that, then you're going to spend the rest of your life beating yourself up over it. Maybe you go in there with it as your last option, your get out of death free card. Only do it if you have to. Because you know?"

She glanced up at him, and he shifted his knees so that he faced her. "What?" she asked.

"There're going to be innocents in there, Tash. Kids that just want to get home to their parents, find a way to avoid dying. Little kids, with no goal other than staying alive for as long, however long that is, but as long as they can. And you might have to kill to protect them, you know. But if you do it for a reason, a real reason, not one based on some stupid sense of glory in death, then you're not them. You're way more than that. So do it for a reason, Tash. Even if that reason is just to get one kid out of there, one kid who was supposed to die."

"And then what?" she asked, her curls falling flatter than they had that morning, adding a vulnerability to her face.

"I don't know." he chuckled. "Maybe we get through this, and then go from there."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and while he didn't feel her pull any closer, she didn't pull away, either. And that was good enough for him,

_Two Days Later..._

"Is there anyone who doesn't know what we're doing?" asked Fury. "Because if they haven't figured it out by now, I'm not going to be impressed."

Clint and Darcy had to hide their smiles as they stood to the side of the large, stage like structure where the Tesseract was mounted. Natasha, Steve, and Thor all stood on the platform, dressed in clothes that looked like they might have come from Steve's pre-ice life.

"I think everyone gets it." said Bruce, standing by the Tesseract control panels with Jane, Tony, and Loki.

"Good." said Fury. "This will bring you each of your individual districts. Keep in mind that you're going to be monitored at all times. You cannot, I repeat, cannot, act as if you know each other outside of the Games. You cannot speak of our world, or SHIELD."

"Or Asgard." added Thor.

"Or Asgard." Fury agreed. "If we need to communicate with you, it will be through Loki, since he's apparently able to avoid cameras and such."

Loki had to exchange a smile with Thor over that comment, thinking of the time that he had gone to SHIELD headquarters to speak with, ok, lie to, Thor. Completely unmonitored, of course.

"Even then, do not act like you see him, unless he tells you that it is ok to speak, and ok to act like you see him. Everyone clear?"

"Yes sir." said Steve.

"Good. Doctor Banner, Loki? The Tesseract is ready?"

Bruce nodded. "As ready as it ever will be, sir."

"Good. Good luck, and we'll see you at the Hunger Games."

Blue light shot from the Tesseract and began to swirl around. It surrounded the three on the platform, dancing in and around them. Then it blasted, brighter than before, and swallowed the three Avengers into it's portal, taking them to the world of Panem.

**I'm sorry if it felt like this was dragging along! I had a lot to establish, and there was no way I could rush this part. Not if I wanted a decent plot, anyways!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I've really had to fight with where I'm taking this in regards to perspective. After a lot of debating and rewriting of scenes, I've made the call to tell the story from Natasha's perspective in District 4. This will be done from the Reaping to the Tributes Parade. When training begins, Thor and Steve will be back in the picture. Natasha will be watching the Reaping and gaining a site into their reactions at the Reaping. It was the best way that I could write this. Hopefully it's enjoyed!**

** Thank you for the reviews, the follows, and the favorites. To my wonderful reviewers, I am flattered that you appreciate my work, and take the time to let me know. It really does make my day! I did not expect this to take off as quickly as it has, and I sincerely hope I don't disappoint.**

**In regards to a review I got, I'm just going to clarify...I wish Clint could be here too! I'm a huge Clint fan, and will incorporate him into the story as often as possible. As far as disguising Thor as a teenager goes, I decided to run with the idea after watching Cabin in the Woods. (Where Chris Hemsworth plays a high school senior) Just to let you know how my mind works!**

**Hope you guys love me. This chapter was an absolute beast to write, but I think it was worth it!**

** And on with the story...**

_District 4_

Natasha wasn't sure what she had expected coming into District 4. Loki had given her as much information as he could about the place, but she still wasn't sure what it would be like. When the Tesseract had began to sputter out aqua blue waves of energy, she had been prepared to face anything from an army intent on ripping children away into bloody wars to being attacked by a 5-year-old assassin.

So she was pleasantly surprised when she opened her eyes to find herself standing in a small, homey looking hut. The walls appeared to be made of some form of grass, woven together in thick bundles. The thatch roof above added to the grassy smell of the place.

The floors were made of some sort of light wood that looked incredibly smooth. Natasha was tempted to feel it, but decided instead to go peer through the soft blue curtains that kept the sunlight out.

The sight of the sea, just outside this place took her breath away. The salty air, tinged with something light and floral, was intoxicating. This place was beautiful.

She watched as boats went out into the water, armed with an assortment of nets. She recalled what Loki had told her, that this was the fishing district.

It took her breath away. The place was beautiful. The people seemed to be in a decently good mood. And then she remembered. It was Reaping Day. That meant that she had to find the town center, and go to be registered. She had no idea what would happen if they pulled up her name to register it for the Reaping, and found no files. That would be a major compromise on her part.

But Tony had assured her that he had taken care of it, that the Capitol had enough information on her to write a biography. She hoped he was right.

Natasha looked down at the light pink dress she had been forced to wear...it reminded her of tuna, to be honest. Fitting, considering where she was. She pulled her short red curls back over her shoulder, tying them together with a piece of leather she conveniently found lying on the faded counter top. She was ready.

Bracing herself for whatever was coming, Natasha put her shoulders back and strode out of the hut, deciding that following the general flow of people would be her best chance at getting to the town center.

She couldn't help but study the waters beside her, and marvel at the mist coming off of the sea. It was beautiful. What she couldn't understand was the sense of festivity swirling around the place. It was a reminder of what they celebrated, what they embraced, what they trained their children to participate in.

It was a reminder of what she came here to do. To stop this whole fiasco.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by a low wolf whistle. She glanced over her shoulder, and then turned forward facing, trying not to roll her eyes.

A young man of about 18 sauntered up to her. He had sandy brown hair and a smirk that rivalled Clint's. She rolled her eyes and kept her pace.

"Eh, red!" he said. "Don't think I've seen you around here before."

Natasha snorted. "Guess you haven't been looking that hard."

He shook his head, brown eyes sparkling. "I doubt it, sweetheart." He picked up his pace to match hers. "Couldn't forget hair like that."

"I blend in."

He rolled his eyes. "You're a Career, aren't you?"

She stopped and stared at him. "Is it that obvious?"

It was the boy's turn to snort. "Not hard to tell, 'specially if you happen to be one."

She raised her eyebrows. "You're a Career?"

He stuck out his hand with a silly grin. "Teren."

She simply stared at it. "Natasha."

She turned on her heel and kept walking. She could feel his gaze on her backside, and suddenly found herself longing for her sidearm. Any kind of gun, really.

She turned a corner around a log cabin style shop, and saw what could only be described as some form of organized chaos. Children of all ages and sizes were lined up at tables, where they held out their arms for some sort of drawing of blood. People were everywhere. Many of them were in clothing similar to hers in style. But some looked completely outlandish, in elaborate get-ups that didn't blend in at all. Natasha assumed that these were people from the Capitol. There were also soldiers, in white uniforms that looked like they belonged in a Star Wars movie. The soldiers were herding the children, appearing to separate them based on age and gender. It was overwhelming.

'Don't panic, Tasha', she berated herself mentally. 'Just "go with it", as Tony would say. Just follow the flow.'

She walked up to a table where a woman in the same white uniform as the soldiers stood. The woman asked for the next person in line, and Natasha realized that it was her.

She held out her hand for the woman, who clipped her skin just enough to draw blood. Natasha didn't wince as the woman pressed her thumb down on a piece of paper, and then used a scanner to process the blood left behind. Her name flashed up on the screen. _Natasha Barton_.

Her mind flashed back to a conversation between her, Thor, Steve, and Fury. About how their last names would be changed, just in case. She had no idea how a society that didn't know other worlds existed would be able to track them down, but she had accepted Fury's decision.

Damn Tony, since he was the one who created her identity here. Damn Clint, because he probably put the idea in Tony's head. And possibly damn Loki, since he was probably in on this too.

They would pay for that one.

Natasha realized that she was being directed into a group of young women, who were separated by the rest of the age groups by long red ropes. She went and stood with them, and immediately sensed them eyeing her, determining whether or not she was a threat.

'Take it easy, girls.' She wanted to say. 'Don't force yourself into this life. Don't let them steal your innocence, because once they do, it's so hard to take back,'

She said nothing, though. Instead, she simply focused on the large stage, as a ridiculous looking woman mounted it. She was dressed in a strange green outfit, that looked like something straight out of _The Little Mermaid_ costume rejects section. Her hair was dyed green and twirled around her scalp, giving the illusion of seaweed. Natasha could make out little shells and bits of other sea products strategically placed in her hair. The dress was long and green. It shimmered like it had fish scales attached to it, and little fish hooks hung off of the bottom hem.

Natasha had seen a lot of strange things in her lifetime. But this had to be within the top 5 of them.

"Welcome, welcome!" cooed the woman. "Welcome to the 74th annual Hunger Games Reaping. And may the odds be ever in your favor."

She gave a smile that was overly wide, and then continued. "My name is Gida Parson, and I bring to you a special message all the way from the Capitol."

She beckoned to the screen behind her, which flashed with some form of insignia, and then went into a video message from the Capitol. Natasha watched with interest as the video explained the way the Districts had rebelled, and then fallen. It sickened her, though, how they embellished the honor behind the Games. There was no honor in these Games, only children being used by those in higher powers to gain control. Natasha would know. It was all to familiar to her, the ways that those in power would use even the smallest of society to advance themselves.

"Isn't that just inspiring?" cried Gida. "Now, I know we are all anxious to discover who will hold the honor, and the privilege of representing District 4 in the Hunger Games. I will not keep you waiting any longer."

She teetered across the stage, over to one of two large glass balls that stood. The balls contained hundreds of little slips of paper, which Natasha guessed held the names of the children of District 4. "As always, we will discover the name of the lucky young woman first."

Her hand hovered over top of the names within the ball, and then plucked one off of the top. "Ever Santan."

Natasha jumped forward immediately, not bothering to discover who the name's owner was. "I volunteer!"

A little down the ways from her, a young woman stood up and glared at Natasha. "Actually, I volunteer as Tribute."

Natasha fought the urge to roll her eyes. The girl looked to be about 18, and had honey brown hair that didn't mask her intense eyes. "Actually, you don't. I volunteered first."

She kept her voice soft, the way she had when she first negotiated with Loki before his attack on New York, when he had threatened to use Clint to destroy her. But she stood firm, indicating that she was not intimidated by the girl.

The girl scowled at her, and took what Natasha guessed was supposed to be a menacing step towards her. While Loki had told her to expect a surge of volunteers, it appeared that the rest of the girls were content to watch them have it out.

"I'm going to the Capitol. You can't stop me."

Now Natasha did roll her eyes. "That'll be hard for you to do, considering that I'm the one going."

The girl opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a shout from the other side of the courtyard. "Ah, let red have a go at it."

Natasha glanced back towards the voice and saw Teren standing there, giving her a cheeky grin. She allowed a small smile in thanks, and stepped towards the stage. The girl who had challenged her for the spot looked flustered, but stepped back.

Gida smiled at her, and Natasha realized she was even scarier up close. "What is your name, dear?"

"Natasha R-Barton." she replied, catching herself at the last moment.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this year's female tribute Natasha Barton."

Gida went on to draw the boy's name, and to Natasha's surprise, Teren didn't try to volunteer. A large, curly haired boy named Sador ended up winning the bid for the spot.

He didn't glance at Natasha, but stared at the people in the courtyard with surprising arrogance. Natasha assumed that it was tributes like this Loki had warned her about. This was the kind of tribute that would be ruthlessly attacking the others, the kind that they would have to protect as many kids as possible from.

Gida motioned for them to shake hands, and then cried out with sick glee: "Ladies and gentlemen, this year's District 4 Tributes, Natasha Barton and Sador Leen!"

What happened after that was a bit of a blur. Natasha was escorted inside the building behind the stage by the white suited soldiers. She was placed in a small, windowless room and told to wait. So she did.

When the door reopened, she was surprised to see Teren come sauntering in. "Eh, red. Quite a show you put on out there!"

"What are you doing here?" asked Natasha.

"Came to see you, sweetness. Since there aren't too many folks who seem eager to. What's with that, anyways? You blow everybody off, so now almost no one wants to come say good-bye?"

This kid was a younger version of Clint, Natasha decided. With Tony's wit thrown in. "Like I said, I blend in well. I don't have very many friends."

Teren shrugged lightly. "You've got a couple other people out there to see you, so I won't take long. Just wanted to wish you luck, let you know that if you come back-" He paused and corrected himself. "When you come back, you'll have someone waiting here for you."

Natasha shook her head at his audacity, but countered with another question. "I thought you were a career. Isn't it your last year to volunteer? You're 18, aren't you?"

He grinned. "I suppose so. But if I went along, then who'd be waiting for you when you got back? Only one person makes it out, you know. And I have a feeling that you wouldn't feel too sad about launching a dagger in my back. Don't want to go up against someone like you in there."

She shook her head, and offered him her hand. He shook it with gusto. "I'll be watching for you, Barton. Good luck out there."

He gave her a wink, and with that he was gone. Natasha's head was spinning at the strange encounter. She wasn't sure what to make of it. Apparently, she'd made a conquest.

She wasn't sure who she was expecting to walk into the room next. So when Clint walked into the room, it was a shock and a half.

"Hey Tasha." He said, giving her his familiar smile.

She hugged him, hard. Because he knew her insecurities...he knew what this was doing to her. And she didn't know how he was here, but she was thankful.

"How'd you get here?" she asked, when she pulled away.

Clint tilted his head towards the door, and then shook his head. Natasha realized that there conversation was being listened in on and nodded.

"The Peacekeepers let me in." Was the only verbal reply he made. "You okay?"

She caught the underlined meaning within his words, but simply nodded. "I'm fine."

"I just came to say good-bye," he said. "And to wish you luck. You'll do fine, Tasha. Just keep your head."

She nodded, and he pulled her back into his embrace, squeezing her hard. "Good girl. I'll be watching the whole time, okay?"

"Kay," she replied, feeling way too vulnerable. He squeezed her hand, and then was gone.

The emptiness that had been gnawing at her since she'd arrived in Panem reared its' ugly head once again. Natasha hated feeling vulnerable, hated feeling like there was something in this situation beyond her control. But everything was beyond her control here.

Just like the Red Room.

She sank into one of the two chairs supplied with a sigh. She was getting too emotionally involved in this, and she knew it. She had to pull up and reign her emotions in. Agents with emotions were always the easiest to compromise, and that couldn't happen now. Not when the stakes were this high.

The door opened, and Natasha looked up with a start. "L-Loki?" she sputtered.

At least she knew how Clint got here. But what was Loki doing here in the first place?

"Yes?" He asked with a smile.

She raised her eyebrows, trying to figure out if they were being listened to by the guards on the other side of the door. Loki shook his head. "Don't worry, Miss Romanoff. The guards hear nothing but a reunion of friends. I can control what sounds reach their ears in order to deliver an important message to you."

"What's the message?" she asked.

"Director Fury regrets to inform you that the ease of which the shield around the arena is to be penetrated with is not what we originally thought." He shook his head. "I don't know how these stupid simples manage it, but their shield is capable of stopping even my magic. Tony Stark feels that there is a way to penetrate the shield within a timely fashion, and I hope for your sake he is correct. But judging by the time it will take for the process to be complete, you will have already been in the arena for awhile."

"So no immediate extraction." Natasha muttered, also uttering a string of Russian curses. "That's not good."

"Director Fury voices that you, the Captain, and Thor are more than capable of handling it."

"It's still not ideal. Your brother-"

"He's not my brother." Loki interrupted with a glare. Despite all the progress he had made in reconciling with Thor and turning his act around on Earth, Loki still denied that Thor was his brother. Natasha had no idea why he did that, especially if he could see how much it hurt Thor every time he denied their relationship. But it was something that would have to be worked out between them, Natasha realized. She continued.

"Thor doesn't have his hammer. Steve's still completely appalled by the idea-"

"And you're not?" interrupted Loki.

"I am, but I've also been trained, Loki. Trained to separate emotions from situations. It's part of my job."

Loki shook his head and stared at her, smirking with disbelief. "You lie poorly, Agent Romanoff. Have you forgotten who I am?"

Natasha rolled her eyes. "If only it were that convenient."

"You say what you want to believe, but hide the truth from yourself. You are more appalled by this than even you care to realize, for reasons that are beyond me. I will not ask what those reasons are, because it pains me to have to hear explanations from someone with such a complete inability to escape the truth. We will extract you in a timely fashion, I assure you. And we will be watching."

With that, he disappeared, leaving her alone once more.

As she was escorted out of the room, and placed in a modern looking train, Natasha's thoughts stayed with Loki's words. She was capable of keeping her job and emotions separate, wasn't she? Wasn't that what made her one of SHIELD's best? Wasn't that why she was here?

She sat down in the train, and watched Gida swirl around, pointing out different culinary delicacies (Which Natasha politely declined) that were on the table, and also drawing their attention the magnificence of the train's fixtures. Natasha had to admit that it was nice, but what did it really matter, when she was being sent into a place that pitted children against children?

Sador said nothing. He occasionally shot her the same glances that a dog sends a piece of meat, but otherwise ignored her entirely.

Natasha curled up in her chair as the train lurched forward, and stared out the window as the world began to rush by. She would've stayed like that for the rest of the trip, however long it was, but was interrupted by Gida's chirping.

"Natasha, Sador, this is one of your mentors, Finnick Odair. I don't know where your other mentor went. The old woman is always tottering around somewhere she's not supposed to be. You get acquainted, and I'll bring her in when I find her."

The first thing that Natasha sheepishly noticed about Finnick was the fact that the man was handsome. Handsome wasn't even the right word for him. He looked like he could model for the bags they gave out at Hollister. He was tall, muscular, and completely bronzed over, in hair and skin. That was enough to make most women swoon. But it wasn't what caught Natasha's attention. Although his appearance screamed pretty-boy, his eyes led Natasha to question if there was more to him than what met the eye. his eyes were sharp and green, decidedly green. Not a gaudy green like the green that cursed Gida's dress. His eyes were more of a sea-green, and immediately took in their surroundings. Including her.

He shook Sador's hand, and chatted with the boy for a couple minutes. Then he turned to her, and smiled slowly. His eyes were still calculating, though.

"I'm Finnick, your mentor." he said, holding out his hand.

Natasha realized that Sador had left the room, but simply returned Finnick's handshake. "Natasha Romanoff."

Finnick's eyebrows went way up, and Natasha wondered what she had said. Then it hit her like a semi truck. Her cover name. She had had dozens of covers over the years, and had never blown them before. And yet, she all of a sudden blows it?

Shit. Massive, elephant shit. She was screwed. How could she mess that up? She was one of SHIELD's best! She never blew her cover. She was always so careful.

"Really." he said, leaning against the counter beside the chair where she sat. His posture was casual, but those eyes...They were blazing with curiosity.

Natasha grasped for words, but couldn't find them. What was wrong with her? Did this whole Hunger Games thing really have her that far unhinged?

Apparently.

"Natasha Barton." she said, hoping that he wouldn't bring up her error.

"Mh-hm." he murmured, still staring at her, as if it would reveal her mind to him.

He leaned in closer, and dropped her voice. "What's the difference between Natasha Romanoff and Natasha Barton?"

Natasha fought for a sharp response. "It's need to know." Close enough, anyways.

"Then consider this, Ms. Romanoff, or Barton, or whoever the hell you are. I am your mentor. I work for the Capitol, and report to them. So to me, this is need to know. What is your name?"

Recalling Loki's statement at how painful it was to watch her lie, she opted for the truth. "Natasha Romanoff."

Finnick stared at her. "Who is Natasha Barton, then?"

Natasha gripped the edge of the table in front of her, fighting for control. She was a SHIELD agent. She was prepared for this. She could handle this. "Who I need to be."

"Why?"

Skipping around the issue at hand wasn't his style, apparently. "I can't tell you."

Finnick shook his head, and sat down in front of her. "I'm going to tell you this, Natasha. I'm good at spotting a liar. I can spot one from a mile away. So you're going to tell me the truth, here. And if I think you are, I'm not going to go tell the soldiers in the car in front of us that there's something fishy going on."

Natasha didn't know why she was letting him push her around, but she simply nodded.

"You're not from Panem, are you?"

Praying that this wasn't the biggest compromise she'd ever had, she sighed. "No, I'm not."

"So then why would you volunteer for the Hunger Games?"

Natasha didn't answer, but dug her knuckles into the table's hardwood and stared at him defiantly.

He chuckled. "If you're not from the Panem, and felt it necessary to volunteer for the Games...You're going to do something to sabotage them, aren't you?"

"Are you going to stop me?" she asked.

Finnick opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of a door sliding open stopped him. He glanced at Natasha and looked as if he wanted to say something, but then closed his mouth and stood up.

"Natasha, this is your other mentor, Mags Jendine. She's been around since the Hunger Games began, and knows absolutely everything there is to know about them." gushed Gida.

Natasha shook Mags' hand politely, and then glanced over at Finnick, who was piling a plate high with food from the buffet table. He met her eyes for a moment, and simply winked.

Now what the hell did that mean?

**And that's the end of this beast of a chapter. Hope it wasn't too long for my readers...I had considered breaking it up, but decided to give you guys the whole thing. Hope you enjoyed!**

**So what do you think? Is Finnick going to figure out who Natasha is? Is he going to the Capitol about her? Is our favorite female assassin going to hold it together for the Games? Speaking of the Games, how are Thor and Steve holding up? **

**Guess you'll have to wait to find out! :D Reviews are awesome, hint hint.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Before I get into the Chapter content, I need to give a HUGE shout-out to someone who's been giving me advice as I get this story rolling. , you rock. You are not nit-picky, and the detail you put into your reviews/messages is amazing. I really, really appreciate the help you are providing, especially with the Avengers side of things, and hope that by buttering you up and giving you your own shout-out you'll continue to provide it. :D Seriously, though, thanks for all the help with my characterization. **

**To the rest of the readers, here it goes. I could have spent days writing Chapters on Natasha in the Capitol, but for the sake of moving the story along, decided against it. We're going to brush through the arrival at the Capitol, skip right through the Tributes parade, and head to the training center. Hope you guys keep riding with me as we go through this! Totally appreciate your guys' support. It keeps me writing!**

**And enough of my ramblings. You aren't here to read them. Enjoy!**

A couple years back, Natasha and Clint had been sent on a mission by SHIELD. Natasha didn't remember the exact details of the mission, but she could remember the frustration that surrounded it. They had lost one of the people they were supposed to be protecting to a target, and she couldn't figure out how. Let alone why. She'd spent half the night pacing around, trying to figure out where they had messed up. She'd kept pacing until Clint had come into her room and told her to "Get the hell to bed". When she'd lashed out at him, he'd simply told her that mornings could sometimes bring a fresh perspective. She'd scoffed at his words at the time, and to this day, would never admit that he was right. She'd gained a new perspective on the mission, and the target was taken down in a timely manner.

The idea of a new perspective was fresh in Natasha's mind as she awoke on a bunk in the train. She'd fallen asleep there in frustration at what she'd done. She'd been out of control in a way she rarely was, and it had shaken her.

But the morning had come, and she was back. She pieced together her story, and decided to completely ignore what had happened last night. Regardless of what Finnick thought of who she was, she was here to do a job. And she'd do it well.

Because that's what she was trained to do.

She had been told by Gida that the train would be arriving in the Capitol early that morning, so Natasha pulled herself from bed and into her District 4 dress. She opted to leave her hair down and strode out of the bedroom.

Finnick and Mags were already awake, and sitting in the dining cart. Mags glanced up at her with a gentle smile, and patted to the seat beside her. Natasha smiled back and gracefully slid beside her. She glanced over at Finnick, who was preoccupied with buttering a fancy muffin with intricate caramel drizzle.

So far, Natasha assumed he had said nothing of what had occured last night. She was content to leave the subject closed, and focused on the food in front of her.

They dined in virtual silence, with the only breaks coming when Mags would ask her a question about her home, or her family.

The silence disappeared when Sador sauntered into the room. He and Finnick kept up a steady stream of banter that kept them both preoccupied. In the short time they'd been around each other, Natasha was already forming her mental profile on him. Young, arrogant, but with some legitimate skills to be proud of. He was typical of what Loki had warned her to expect in a Career.

Gida swept into the room just as Natasha was taking a sip from a sweet juice blend that had been served as the morning's beverage. There was also coffee, which Natasha had mentally promised to take advantage of afterwards.

The site of the woman was enough to make Natasha sputter on the liquid, although she managed to hold it down. She swallowed hard, ignoring the pain in her throat.

Gida wore a strange, puffy pink full length ball gown. The fabric looked like it had come from a ballerina tutu, and was bedazzled with hundreds of mini diamonds and sparkly bows. On her hands were satin pink gloves that ended at her wrist, and then continued with the dress' mesh like material up to her elbows. Her hair was silver this morning, with little diamonds intertwined in it. The contrast of the dress with her heavy, dark makeup gave a picture of a bad goth outfit.

"Hello, dears." she gushed. "How is everyone this morning? Excited?"

Natasha and Sador simply nodded. Natasha realized that they were equally stunned about the strange woman's attire.

"Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer. We are but moments away from the Capitol. Ah-" she gave a squeal of delight. "And there it is!"

Natasha went to the window that she was pointing to. What she saw was breathtaking.

The city looked as if it had been plucked from a picture of the future. It stood in masterful design compared to the buildings that they seen passing through the few districts that stood between them and the Capitol. The buildings were tall and modern, and stood on the banks of a sparkling blue lake. The train glided on tracks over the water, and then into a large station. Natasha was stunned to see people standing outside of the train, cheering and waving at them.

If she had thought that the Games were celebrated in District 4, Natasha was unprepared for the positive jubilation these people were displaying. People, who were dressed as ridiculously dressed as Gida, were jumping up and down in excitement. Parents were holding their children over the crowd, as if to allow them a better view. It was sickening. But Natasha refused to let it shake her. Let them celebrate her. Let them celebrate what they thought she was going to do. It would make the feeling of sabotaging the Games that much more pleasant.

A group of soldiers in white uniforms, whom Natasha had learned were referred to as Peacekeepers, stood outside the train, and ushered them towards a large building. Natasha heard people shouting her name, and glanced over to see a group of children waving at her excitedly. She stared, unsure of what they expected her to do.

"Wave back, dear." whispered Gida. "Let them know you're happy to see them!"

Natasha wanted to snort in disbelief, but instead opted to play the role of the willing tribute. She smiled, and waved back, sending them into a frenzy.

Good. Let them think that this was what she wanted. It would be easier for her to maintain cover.

The Peacekeepers led them to the silver doors of what Natasha assumed was an elevator. She was correct. She, Sador, Finnick, Gida, and Mags stood, and Natasha felt a sudden surge as the doors closed. And just as suddenly as they had closed, they reopened, revealing what looked like a spacious condo within a building. The place oozed luxury, although Natasha realized the Capitol's absurd sense of style transferred to it's interior decorating policy. The couches looked soft, though, so Natasha plopped down onto the nearest one. Gida patted her on the shoulder.

"You are both very fortunate. You're from one of the inner districts, so you get to spend the day getting settled in. The Tributes from the outer Districts won't be arriving until tonight, so you already have an advantage."

Natasha was amazed at how a person could be so genuinely shallow. She had spent time with people who acted shallow as a cover, and knew how to identify them blindfolded. This woman wasn't acting, though. Natasha wasn't sure which was more unnerving, someone who acted shallow, or someone who truly was.

Finnick nodded to the large TV screen in front of the couch where Natasha sat. "You'll want to watch the Reapings of the other Tributes. It'll give you an idea of what you're up against."

Mags came over and sat by her, while Finnick and Sador went and sat on the couch on the other side of the room. Gida primly sat in a nearby chair, and Finnick grabbed a remote off the side table. The screen flickered to life, and a man with bright blue hair flashed up on the screen. Then the screen changed, and the words "Reaping Replay" flashed up on the screen. Natasha realized that each District's reaping ceremony had been recorded in full to be replayed to the public, and watched in interest.

It started in District 1. A beautiful blond girl forced her way forward and won the bid for District 1 tribute after a good deal of bickering with a tall brunette. The District 1 boy was shorter, but he looked strong. A picture of the two of them shaking hands flashed on the screen. Glimmer and Marvel. Natasha wasn't as alarmed by them as she had expected to be.

She was seriously alarmed by the pair from District 2, though. Both looked strong. The boy, Cato, looked like an absolute brute. And Natasha could tell by the way he glared at anyone who made a move to volunteer that he intimidated the people in his own District. He was going to be a force to reckon with.

The girl, Clove, was small and wiry. She had sharp features, and intelligent eyes. The way she smirked set off an alarm in the back of Natasha's mind, but she couldn't place why.

District 3's tributes were smaller again. The boy took everything in with calculating eyes, while the girl just looked like a scared rabbit. Natasha filed them in the "Possible Allies" category.

Then came District 4, and Natasha watched as she volunteered for the girl's spot, staring down the other girl who tried to vie for the spot. District's 5, 6, and 7 flew by. Compared to the excitement of the first few Districts, the rest seemed to be becoming gloomier and gloomier. It was as if she could see the hope lost as the District number grew higher.

She watched Steve reaped in District 8. Steve, looking tired and bewildered, climbed the stage and politely shaking the hand of the brightly clothed male escort. A gentle hand shake to the tiny 14 year old who had been reaped beside him.

Thor was reaped in District 10, and Natasha had to hide a snort of laughter. She could barely recognize him. His beard was shaved, and his hair trimmed back neatly. 'Somewhere,' she thought. 'A fangirl just fainted'.

She had to bite back a gasp when the District 11 reaping came. A tiny little 12 year old girl with dark skin and masses of curls was reaped as the female tribute. She looked like she was ready to cry as she walked up onto the stage, but she plucked out her chin defiantly. The boy was a monster, big and broad shouldered. He looked like he could give District 1's Cato a run for his money, if he wanted to. But Natasha couldn't miss the hint of big brother affection his eyes held as he shook the little girl's hand.

Natasha thought she was prepared for whatever this Reaping replay could throw at her. She wanted to groan, though, when the girl was reaped from District 12. She was little, probably 12 as well, with long blond braids. She walked slowly towards the stage, when a strangled cry escaped one of the other girls in the rows. "Prim!" shouted the young woman.

She was tall and beautiful, in her own way. Her dark hair was woven in a braided pattern, her eyes a beautiful grey. They held anguish, though, as she fought against the Peacekeepers in her way.

"I volunteer!" she yelled. "I volunteer as tribute."

Natasha could feel the general gasp through the crowd of District 12 residents as the young woman made her way to the stage. The blond girl started screaming. "Katniss! No!"

A handsome young man sprinted out of the crowd and flung her over his shoulder, pulling away from the stage. The girl, Katniss, climbed up the stage, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What is your name, dear?" asked the woman, who wore a strange pink suit jacket with a matching skirt.

"Katniss Everdeen." The girl said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Well!" cried the woman. "I bet that was your sister. Can't have her steal all the glory now, can we?"

Natasha shook her head in disbelief. She had seen stupid bravery. She had seen selfish ambitions for entering this thing. But this girl, she was willingly going to what was probably her death for her little sister.

Natasha had been called brave many times in her life. But what she just saw was something that she had never achieved, could never imagine achieving. This girl was sheer, true bravery. Nothing less.

A tall, strong looking blond boy was chosen as the male tribute, to finish off the Reaping. But Natasha couldn't wrap her head around what she just saw. The girl, Katniss, was obviously terrified. But the bravery of volunteering to go, considering where she was from.

It was then Natasha realized that it was the fear that made this girl so brave. She wasn't brave because she wasn't afraid, but rather because she was. Because she was acting in spite of the fear, acting because she believed that something, namely her sister, was more important than the fear.

"Well, it looks like there's going to be some good competition this year." Gida tittered. "Don't worry, dears." She reached in and patted Natasha's hand. "It's nothing that you can't handle. Plus, everyone knows that District 4's tributes are trained winners. You'll have no problems earning sponsors, will they Finnick?"

Finnick's head jerked up, and Natasha realized that he, like her, must have been deep in thought. "Of course not. Trained Careers always earn sponsors easily. You'll be fine."

"Now who's hungry?" asked Gida. "Dinner tonight will be simply marvellous. Of course you must be famished. Come along, now."

Natasha felt numb as she stood up to follow her. She was about to go towards what she assumed was the dining room when Finnick brushed up against her. She glanced up in surprise as he stared at her.

"Can we talk?" he asked. He saw Sador glancing back at them a second before Natasha did, and raised his voice. "We need to go over your training plan, and the plan you have for the interviews."

Natasha didn't know what he was talking about, but simply nodded her head and followed him into a small sitting room. Finnick motioned for her to sit down and closed the door firmly.

"Thank you." he said. "We need to talk, Natasha."

"Why?" she asked.

Finnick ran his hands through his hair with a sigh and flopped onto one of the strangely designed chairs. They looked uncomfortable at first, but Natasha realized that they weren't as bad as she originally thought.

"We need to decide on a plan."

"A plan for what?"

Finnick rolled his eyes, and then glanced up, apparently thinking about something else. He nudged his chin to the roof carefully, and Natasha realized that there were cameras mounted there.

"A plan for the Hunger Games." he said. Natasha could tell that there was something he wanted to ask her, but wasn't able to due to the cameras' presence.

"I don't know my plan." Natasha confessed.

Finnick nodded. "A lot of Tributes say the same. What do you excel at?"

"Knives." said Natasha without thinking. "Hand to hand combat. And I'm hard to catch."

"Archery? Or sword fighting?"

"I can kind of use a sword," she admitted. "And I've had a couple lessons with a bow." She allowed a small smile at the memory.

"Hmph." sighed Finnick. "So you're going to use evasion as your tactic. With close range defence when necessary?"

"Pretty much." Natasha admitted.

"Tomorrow's the tributes' parade. After that you start in the training center. I want you to make sure that you throw some knives around. Let the others know that you have a strength. Avoid the hand to hand combat, though. Practice with a couple other methods, and make sure you work on some survival tactics. Clear?"

"Completely." she replied.

"Good." said Finnick, standing up suddenly. "Then let's not keep the other waiting." He held out his hand to help her out, which Natasha took with a hint of surprise.

She didn't react when she felt him press something into her hand. She simply slipped whatever it was into her pocket casually as he held the door open for him. It wasn't until later, after a luxurious dinner, when she had been shown her room and had crawled under the bed's blankets that she pulled it out. It was a note, written in a loose, casual scrawl.

"Natasha," she whispered, reading it out loud to herself. "I don't know who you are, but save as many as you can. I don't know what your plan is, but I will help you as I can. Finnick."

She stood up abruptly walked to the bathroom and began to run water over the piece of paper. It was a trick she learned in Budapest, an alternative to destroying a note in the absence of fire. She began to break the wet pieces up and float them down the drain. Then, she took the other half, tore it into soggy pieces, and sent it down the toilet. She did so as discreetly as she could, since she wasn't sure if the Capitol monitored the bathroom as well. She hoped not.

She lay on the bed and sighed. She couldn't help but wishing she could talk to Steve and Thor, or even Loki, for that matter. A taste of familiarity would be welcome now.

After laying on the bed and staring at the roof, counting the ceiling tiles over and over again, she finally fell into a fitful sleep.

**And we finally finish laying the foundation of the story! Next chapter we can get some serious action going...Hope you all are still enjoying it!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here we go! Now things can really get interesting. Not too many notes on this, simply enjoy the story, and review if you have a minute to show a college writer some appreciation. :)**

If she ever met the idiot who invented alarm clocks, she would make sure to let Clint put an arrow in his butt.

Natasha cracked her eyes open and groaned at the bright sunlight streaming through her window. Then she smacked the alarm clock hard and rolled over, burying her face in the pillow. She wanted to spit out a few choice words in Russian when Gida popped her head in, telling her to "Rise and shine, darling!".

She settled for mentally spewing them, instead.

Yesterday had been the Tributes parade, where the Tributes were dressed up in costumes supposedly representing their District, and then sent out in front of the Capitol in horse drawn chariots. The whole thing was wierd.

Natasha had ridiculous, dressed in a frilly blue costume that was supposed to represent the sea, as well as an elaborate aquamarine jewelled head dress. It was completely ridiculous.

She'd felt much better when she'd seen Steve's tribute costume, though. If she had thought she'd looked ridiculous. She wished she had a camera, because she couldn't imagine how many hits a picture of Captain America wearing a fuzzy blue and pink costume that strangely resembled a jester's outfit. It took every ounce of training she had not to burst out laughing when she saw his shiny satin pants, one leg pink and the other blue.

Thor had looked like the golden cowboy, and had actually made his outfit work, in a strange way. He looked in his element, and Natasha contributed it to him having already had time in this world.

That was last night. This morning, she was supposed to report to the Training center at 10 in the morning for the first of what would be three days of training. After the morning, the Tributes would eat lunch together, and then resume training until the evening. After the three days of training, the Tributes would be sent to private sessions with people known as the Gamemakers, who controlled the arena and what went into it. She would be sent in to demonstrate her skills to the Gamemakers, and they would score her based on how skilled they believed her to be. Then it would be some sort of a public interview with the blue haired guy before entering the arena.

After a short breakfast with Gida and Sador, with Finnick and Mags being the absent addition of sanity there, Natasha slipped into a black catsuit style outfit that had been layed out for her, and immediately felt more in her element.

She pulled her hair back and walked out to the elevator, slipping in and choosing to stand on the opposite side to Sador. He merely stared at her, saying nothing.

They rode in an awkward silence down to the lower level, and Natasha realized that they were 15 minutes earlier than they were supposed to be. It didn't seem to matter though, as she noticed most of the Tributes had already arrived.

A woman stood in the center of the room. Natasha couldn't remember her name, and didn't really care. She ran through a bunch of facts on how many of them would die within the next two weeks, and advised them the same thing that Finnick had said, to pay attention to the survival stations.

They were warned that they would not be allowed to fight each other, and that they would receive sparring partners if they wanted to practice hand to hand combat.

They were dismissed, and Natasha leaned back to watch as the rest of the Careers bolted for the weapons. Steve glanced at her and came over.

"My name's Steve," he said, playing his cover to the full. "What's yours?"

She stuck out her hand. "Natasha Barton."

He shook it, and Natasha couldn't miss the glimmer of amusement in his eyes. "Do you want to partner up?" he asked. "Maybe we can learn from each other."

That was Steve for, "I'm totally out of my element, and I need you to have my back right now". Natasha smiled and nodded.

She glanced at Thor, who gave them a big smile. Natasha was worried for a second that he would act like he already knew them, but instead he came over and "introduced himself" to them. After putting on a big show of exchanging names and Districts, the three of them agreed to partner up.

It was a strange arrangement, training together and acting as if they didn't know each other. But it was also a relief to the three of them to be together again, and having the knowledge that if anything was to go wrong, they would have each other.

After awhile, though, it became clear that the three of them had different priorities in the training center. They had run through some basic survival stations, but Natasha was ready to move on and get her hands on some knives. A table of battle axes and small battle hammers had caught Thor's eye, while Steve was looking longingly at the camouflage station. Natasha was the one who caught on to this first.

"Guys?" she said as she worked on starting yet another fire. "It's been great working with you, but I think I'm going to go throw some knives around."

Thor nodded. "I wish to go try the hammers and axes. I'd like to learn some new techniques on how to use them."

They glanced at Steve, who shrugged. "You guys go ahead. I'll stay here and start a couple more fires."

He didn't have to tell them twice. Steve had to smile as he watched Natasha carefully pick up a knife, and then fling it into the chest cavity of a mannequin. She immediately caught the attention of the District 2 pair as she continued to fling the knives, alternating hands at times.

Thor wasn't having as easy of a time as Natasha was with the new weapons. Steve guessed that the hammers and axes available were much lighter than those he was used to using, as he constantly overthrew them. Eventually, though, he got the hang of the axes, and was suddenly taking the heads off of mannequins with them. He noticed that one of the Career boys, the one named Marvel, was looking slightly annoyed at Thor as he continued to whip the axes around.

Steve wasn't especially interested in playing around with the weapons, and he had a feeling that he would hurt someone if he went into hand to hand combat with them. Usually Thor was his combat partner, since they were fairly even when it came to strength, but they weren't allowed to fight each other here.

Steve settled for heading to the camouflage station, which had initally caught his eye. He smiled when he saw the pair from District 12 there. He remembered the girl, Katniss, if he was correct. He had had to excuse himself after watching the way she was Reaped into the Games, which had brought him some stares from his mentors, Woof and Cecelia.

He shook his head at the memory of the poverty that had surrounded District 8, and the visible relief of parents when they realized that it wasn't their child going to the Hunger Games. But there was one set of parents who hadn't been relieved. The woman had fallen to the ground, screaming, when a girl's name was called. And a man who had to be held back from charging the stage. A girl, who Steve had correctly guessed to be 13, named Emi was reaped. Steve was slightly impressed when she didn't flinch, just called out to her mother that it was going to be ok. The girl, Emi, had golden red hair, and dark brown eyes. She hadn't looked scared when she climbed the stage, though. She only looked angry. She had stiffly shaken Steve's hand on the stage, and then had disappeared when they boarded the train that was going to bring them to the Capitol. Steve wasn't sure, but he thought he had heard her crying. The next morning, though, she had come out of her room looking angry and closed off, unwilling to eat any more than a couple of bites of the fancy breakfast provided, although Steve had guessed by her gaunt frame that she hadn't seen such a bounty in her lifetime.

As Steve neared the station, he couldn't help but take a quick glance around the center, trying to see where she was. He saw her at the plants station, where she seemed to be trying to identify a variety of plants. Steve made a mental note to help her later.

Steve knelt down where the District 12 boy, Peeta, was diligently painting his hand. "Do you mind if I join you?" he asked.

Peeta looked up with startled eyes, but nodded. The girl, Katniss, stood leaning against the tree, watching him paint. She eyed him suspiciously, and Steve gave what he hoped was a friendly smile tos how her that he meant no harm.

"That's impressive." said Steve, watching the boy paint the bark of a tree onto his own arm.

"Thanks." said Peeta, eyes narrowing as he detailed the edge.

"How'd you do that?" he asked.

The boy pointed behind him. "The darker clays, the grey ones? Those are great for creating bark. And then I used a bit of mud to blend the tones."

Steve nodded, and grabbed a brush as he started a base color. "You paint a lot?"

"Some." said Peeta with a shrug. "I used to decorate the cakes at my parents' bakeries. That's how I learned."

Steve nodded. "I never was as good at painting. I prefer to draw."

"What District are you from?" asked Peeta.

"8." he replied. "I'm Steve."

Peeta set down his brush and offered his free hand. "Peeta. From 12."

Steve shook it, and then went back to his work. They worked in silence for awhile, occasionally glancing at each other's work. Peeta glanced up. "You don't have to hang around here Katniss, you know that right?"

The girl, Katniss, shook her head. "We stay together."

After awhile, Steve felt that he'd done a pretty sharp job at camouflaging his arm. He held it up against the tree. "What do you think?"

Peeta's eyes narrowed. "Not bad. Your greys are a little bit lighter than the trees, but all in all it's pretty good."

Katniss shook her head. "Peeta, don't you think we should try something else?"

He grinned at her. "Why?"

She rolled her eyes, and Steve and Peeta exchanged another smile. He decided that he liked the kid already. "Because I doubt you're going to have time spending an hour camouflaging your arm in the arena."

Peeta shrugged. "Okay, say there's a giant cake at the Cornocopia..."

Steve had to laugh at that, and Katniss joined in. "Say we move on." she said, walking away.

Steve had a feeling that the girl had some trust issues, and hadn't quite decided on how she felt about Peeta yet. But she did seem determined to stick with him, although Steve couldn't figure out why.

He joined Peeta at the sink as they cleaned the clay and mud off their arms. "You want to join us?" asked Peeta. Steve glanced up in surprise.

"Absolutely." he said, following him over to the snare station, where Katniss had crouched. The instructor began to put them through their paces on knot tying and snares, and seemed genuinely excited to have people interested in his station.

They tied knots until lunch, and slowly made their way into the room that was lined with tables. A group of Careers sat at the table at the front of the room, laughing and hooting about something. Steve guessed that this was an alliance forming, and was surprised to see Natasha in the midst of it.

Natasha was surprised that she was in the midst of it. She had spent over an hour whipping knives around, feeling more and more like herself, and had opted to head over to the archery station. She'd had a couple lessons from Clint before, and she was happy that she could remember a couple of the techniques behind it. The instructor had turned her attention to another Tribute, the girl from 7, when the District 1 boy named Marvel had approached her.

"You know how to use that?" he asked her.

She glanced up in surprise. "Not really. I've had a couple lessons."

"Prefer to throw knives, eh?" he said with a cocky grin. Natasha nodded.

"I can help you." he offered. She stared at him in surprise. "Um, sure?" she said.

And that was how she spent her next hour, receiving archery lessons from Marvel. His banter wasn't exactly the most intelligent she'd dealt with, but he was a good teacher, and patient with her when she struggled. When the buzzer had sounded, signalling that it was time for a lunch break, he had invited her to come sit with him and the other Careers.

She had glanced around, and realized that the easiest way to blend in was to stick with the group she was expected to join up with. So she had nodded, and allowed herself to be led over and introduced to the other Tributes. Glimmer from District 1, Cato and Clove from District 2, and Sador, who she already knew. She received cold greetings from the Glimmer and Cator, while Sador continued his streak of ignoring her. She wished she could figure out what his problem with her was. The District 2 girl, Clove, gave her a small smile, but didn't interact with her from beyond there.

So she sat with the Careers, and realized that Marvel was the only who who genuinely seemed to want her there. Cato was as cocky as she had guessed, but was much more intimidating up close. She could tell by the way his young body was firmly toned that he had definitely been trained to win. Clove was the quiet one, more intent on the food than on the antics of Cato and Marvel, who were apparently reliving the glory days of training together.

She had to smile when she saw Steve join the District 12 tributes. They'd stuck together the entire morning, and Natasha was hoping that an alliance was forming between them. If that was the case, then it would be easier to keep Katniss, who had been nicknamed the Girl on Fire due to her parade costume, out of harm's way. And if that could happen, they would be able to bring her home to her little sister.

She felt bad when she saw Thor sit down by himself, but ended up having to ignore him and join in the laughter as Marvel made another awful pun about something that had happened during training.

Thor didn't really mind sitting by himself. He realized that he was probably painting a target on his own back within this training, but didn't really care. The chances that any of these young mortals would be able to cause him harm were extremely unlikely.

He shovelled into the plate of rice he had ordered with vigor, enjoying the moist goodness. He was about to shovel another mouthful in when he stopped, feeling as if someone was watching him. He turned around and had to smile at the little girl standing behind him. She had thick, dark curls that poofed around her tiny face. Her eyes were big and brown, and she was very small. She was eyeing him carefully, as if unsure of what to do.

"Would you like to sit?" he asked, motioning to the chair in front of him. "You are welcome to join me, you know."

She smiled shyly, and plopped her tray down on the table. Thor raised his eyebrows when he saw the pile of food on her plate, but she simply shrugged. "I was hungry."

She stuck out her hand. "I'm Rue. From District 11. You're Thor, right?"

"You know my name?" he asked, startled.

"Yeah. You're from District 11, just like Jaye. She's sitting with the girl from District 5, over there."

Thor glanced over to where she was sitting, and nodded. "You're not sitting with them?"

Rue shrugged. "They all want to kill me. I think they think I'm gonna be easy to kill."

He had to wince at how lightly she said that. "But you know better, right?"

She nodded. "Mhmm. They can't kill me if they can't catch me." she glanced up at him. "But don't tell them I said that."

"Your secret is safe with me, Lady Rue." said Thor, earning a giggle from the girl. "What?" he asked.

"Why do you talk like that?" she asked.

"Talk how?"

"I don't know...all wierd and stuff."

"It's how we speak in District 10." he said.

"Jaye doesn't talk like that."

Thor shook his head. "Are you always so curious?"

"May as well." said Rue. "I mean, I'm not going to count myself out, but chances are, I won't be alive in a week anyways. Figure I may as well enjoy it."

He was in disbelief at the talk of death coming from one so young. "Perhaps not, Rue. I believe that if the others, as you say, are eager to count you out of the battle, then you will be able to surprise them."

She glanced up at him in surprise as she scraped the last pieces of fruit out of a bowl. "You think so?"

"As you said, if they cannot catch you, they cannot kill you."

"Doesn't matter, though. I mean, I can only hide for so long."

Thor wasn't sure how Natasha and Steve would feel about what he was about to do, but he didn't especially care. "Rue? How about we make a deal."

She placed her elbows on the table and cocked her eyebrow, causing Thor to smile again. "What kind of deal?"

"Do you have any allies?"

"Allies?" she wrinkled her nose.

"Allies. People who are willing to fight beside you."

She pointed to a table where a large, dark boy sat in solitude. "Maybe Thresh. He's from my District. Or Katniss. She's from District 12. Why?"

"Because they-" he pointed to the Careers, who were laughing about something one of the boys had said. "Are not the only ones who are able to form an alliance."

She raised her eyebrows. "You-" she pointed at him for effect. "Want to make an alliance with me?" She pointed to herself.

"Aye." said Thor. "And Thresh, and Katniss, if they will join us."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." said Thor, simply.

"Why?"

"Why not?" he countered. "You're small, and fast. I can tell. Thresh is strong, as am I. Perhaps," he motioned to the Careers. "We can become a force capable of standing up to them."

"Uh-huh." said Rue, looking at the Careers. "You're crazy.

"Nay, I am not. I am telling you, they are not invincible. They only like to appear to be. We can defend ourselves if we band together."

"You really think so?"

"I know so, Rue."

She grinned. "I'll talk to Thresh after lunch. I bet he'll totally join us. Hey!" she appeared to think of something. "Do you know how to climb?"

Thor stared at her, slightly puzzled. "How to what?"

"How to climb. Like nets and ropes and trees and stuff."

He shook his head. "I don't believe I've ever been inclined to try." He left out the part that he usually just flew up to whatever point he was trying to reach.

"Good," said Rue, her eyes gleaming. "Because after lunch, you're going to teach me how to throw one of those hammer things. And I'll teach you how to climb."

"Rue," he said, chuckling. "Don't you think I'm rather large to try and climb anything? I don't believe it could hold me."

She shrugged. "You won't be able to climb super high up a tree, but you can climb a net, or rocks, if there are any. It's good stuff to know."

After lunch, Rue had immediately bolted off in search of Thresh, while Thor began to work on his spear throwing skills. Loki had once challenged him to learn in the days the had occupied Asgard, and the art appeared to have remained with him.

Rue came over and joined him 10 minutes later, grinning widely. A few moments later, Thresh came and stood on Thor's other side, watching him throw the spear. He stared at Thor.

"You want me to join you?" he asked quietly.

"Aye, we both would like you to join us." said Thor. He motioned to Rue, and caught a reflection of his own feelings within the boy's eyes. The girl should not be here. She was too young, and too innocent. They had found a common purpose, it appeared, in protecting this little one.

"Then I guess we have a deal." said Thresh, sticking out his hand to Thor. Thor shook it firmly, and did not miss the glances of alarm passing between the Career tributes. He also didn't miss the tiny smirk on Natasha's face as she saw them shake on their alliance.

"Good." said Rue, standing between them. "Because now I get to teach you both how to climb."

Thor and Thresh exchanged raised eyebrows, but followed Rue without arguing.

That night, Thor was surprised to see Jaye sitting at the table with their mentor, Elias, glaring at him. Elias gave Thor a small smile, but then turned back to his conversation with Jaye. She scowled at him once more, and then returned her attention to their mentor. Thor wasn't sure what the problem was, and he truly didn't care. He would try to protect her in the arena, but had a feeling that she and the girl from District 5 did not trust him in the slightest.

When he fell into bed awhile later, he noticed the soreness in his back from the falls he had taken during his climbing lesson. He gave a small smile, and made a promise to himself to make sure that his District 11 allies survived to the extraction from the arena. No matter what the cost was.

**Ah, alliances are forming!**

**So, which alliance are you enjoying right now? What do you think about Natasha with the Careers? Any theories on that's all going to go? **

**And who's going to survive in the arena? How are our heroes going to unite their allies together? And where's Loki?**

** Guess you'll have to wait to find out! Hope you guys are enjoying. Reviews earn you a cake from Peeta. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello to my awesome readers! Sorry to make you wait so long for an update...This was a really, really tough chapter to write, because I had a couple of decisions to make on some plot issues and twists I had developed. But the new chapter is here! Heads up...the Bloodbath is not exactly as written within the Hunger Games for reasons known to me and possibly . So stick with me here...I promise that there is a method to my madness!**

**A couple notes in response to some feedback I've been getting from my awesome reviewers (I love you guys! Cake for all!) I'm running with more of a MCU theme rather than the comic book universe, which means that I'm able to downplay Thor's strength. Plus, remember that Thor's a pretty smart guy. He's just trying to keep his cover by not acting like the freakishly strong Norse god he is. That also being said, as far as Clove and Glimmer being jealous of Natasha here...keep in mind that Natasha is being presented as a Career, rather than an outer District tribute, meaning that they've kind of expected to see those sort of skills from her. I will consider incorporating some form of Hawkeye vs. Katniss, if I can develop a twist that continues with the plot flow.**

**And a personal note on my side...I have to share because I'm so unbelievably stoked right now...I'M GETTING MARRIED! (Seriously, I am!) So if I'm not updating like a lunatic, it could possibly be because I am planning my wedding. So, yeah, heads up about that.**

**Enjoy! :)**

The following two days passed quickly, with the Tributes all meeting and training in the same vicinity. Occasionally tempers flared, but for the most part, the Tributes trained in relative harmony. Natasha couldn't help but feel the irony of the way the Capitol made them train together, and form bonds with each other, only to turn them against each other when the time of the Games arrived.

She continued to train with the Careers, and found herself forming a strange affection towards Marvel. She compared the emotion to the affection she'd developed for Stark. There was no reason to tolerate him, but to do anything else felt strangely wrong. Like kicking a puppy, almost. She continued to tolerate Marvel shadowing her during the days of training, and occasionally showed him a trick or two with a knife in exchange for some spear lessons.

Thor, on the other hand, was developing a small posse for himself. After forming his alliance with Thresh and Rue, Thresh had surprised him by bringing another girl into the equation. Lila, from District 9, was 14 years old, and extremely small for her age. The height difference between her and Rue was minimal, and she looked as if she would blow over if faced by a strong surge of wind. The four of them trained together daily, and earned several glares from the other tributes. Thor wasn't alarmed by them, but Lila appeared to be. Thor had done his best to reassure her, but his words could only guarantee so much to her.

It wasn't until the last day of the pre-Games events that the reality of what would happen tomorrow really hit Natasha. The day had flown by again, ending in the evening with something called Tribute interviews, in which each Tribute was interviewed by the blue haired guy, who was named Caesar Flickerman. Caesar was a pretty nice guy, who asked her a lot of questions about life in District 4 and what her strategy was to win. Finnick had explained to her and Sador that these interviews were important, as it would help the Capitol decide who their favorites were. Natasha had decided to ignore the sexy image that Finnick had suggested she portray, and rather opted to go with a more vulnerable, fun loving image that was enhanced by her "mature" beauty. In the end, she had been right, and had sent the Capitol into a frenzy.

The bombshell of the night, though, came from District 12. Natasha was curious to watch Katniss, and see if she could gain some perspective on the girl. She was blunt, Natasha had to give her that. She looked terrified, but managed to keep it masked with a cool sense of calm. Her interview, especially when Caesar had asked her about her sister, was a hit.

Then the boy, Peeta came out, and had joked around with Caesar. When, towards the end of his interview, Peeta was asked if there was anyone special girls for him back in his District. It was then he chose to drop the bombshell, that there was a girl he loved, but that she had come here with him.

The screen had flashed with a picture of Katniss' expression, and Natasha immediately realized that she'd had no idea about anything Peeta was talking about.

It had caused quite the uproar in the Capitol, to say the least.

Later that night, Natasha had fallen onto her bed with a sigh, and wished again that she had some way of communicating with her teammates. She would never admit it, but there was a part of her that wished for the security they offered her. She tried to shove back the thoughts of them, reminding herself of the professionalism that she was expected to carry. She did, however, allow a thought of Clint to linger, with a small bit of hope that it would come back to her as she slept. It was better than a lot of alternative dreams she could come up with.

The morning came too quickly for Natasha, as she found herself seated at the breakfast table beside Sador, eating a solemn meal. The boy turned to her, and said the first full sentence she'd heard him speak since arriving at the Capitol. "Good luck out there."

She'd nearly dropped her fork in surprise, but had managed to muster a smile. "Good luck to you too."

Once they had finished breakfast, she was escorted by the Peacekeepers to a large military facility, and then outside to an airfield. Finnick came up alongside her and placed a firm hand on her back. "Natasha." he said. She turned and stared at him, seeing curiousity written within every inch of his face.

"Yes?" she said softly.

"Be careful out there, ok?"

She nodded, and he continued. "The Cornucopia, it's a big structure in the middle of the arena that you'll be loaded into? It's a place loaded with weapons and supplies, and all kinds of stuff. The place is stacked. The less valuable items will be in the outer area, but the weapons and the valuables? They'll be on the inside of it."

"Do I go for it?" she asked.

Finnick paused. "You have allies in Districts 1 and 2, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Then you'll be ok." he said. "Watch your back, but I'm guessing you'll have a couple people doing it for you. You'll be fine."

Mags tottered over to her, wished her luck, and then sent her on her way. Natasha walked across the airfield, and took one last glance at Finnick. He winked at her cheerily, and then walked out of her sight.

Once in the large hovercraft, Natasha was buckled into her seat, and watched as a woman approached each Tribute. "Give me your arm." she instructed.

When it was her turn, Natasha handed over her arm without blinking. A large needle was inserted into her arm, but Natasha didn't even wince. No one questioned the procedure except Katniss, who immediately balked at the sight of the needle. "Wha-what is that?" she asked.

"A tracker so we can monitor you in the arena." replied the woman in a monotone voice. She grabbed Katniss' arm and pressed the needle in.

The Tributes rode in silence, and soon landed at what Natasha assumed was the arena. They were separately escorted into different rooms that had large glass tubes in the corner of the room. Natasha sat down in silence, and was greeted by her stylist, whom she'd met a couple of times. The woman, who's name was Liv, offered Natasha a jacket to go over her uniform of tan pants and black t-shirt, which she accepted gratefully. Liv wished her luck in the Games, and then motioned for her to enter the tube. It was then that Natasha remembered Finnick's order to her.

"Do not," he had instructed. "Under any circumstance, step off that pedestal before the timer runs down. Once you go through the transport tubes, you'll be on a pedestal, in a circle with the other Tributes. The clock's going to count down, and you don't make any move to go off of it until the timer is at 0. Clear?"

As she stepped into the tube, she took a deep breath and focused on her strategy. Stay alive and keep as many alive with her as she could. In a fleeting moment, she wondered if SHIELD had been able to hack into Panem's cameras, and was watching what was going on. She would never admit how badly she hoped that they were. It was like a little security blanket to her, the knowledge that no matter what went wrong out there, SHIELD would have the upper hand. But she hadn't heard from Loki since the beginning of the Games festivities.

Where was Loki, anyways?

She was abruptly yanked from her thoughts as the platform beneath her feet began to rise, revealing a scene much like what Finnick had described to her. She and the other 23 Tributes were surrounding a large metal structure, which was littered with small packages and pieces of equipment around the outer edge, enticing the Tributes to draw closer to the structure.

The clock began to tick down, and Natasha felt her body tense. She glanced around at the other Tributes, who seemed intensely focused on the Cornucopia. She focused in on a set of knives in the centre of the structure, and decided to make them her initial destination. She lowered her hands to her sides, and then caught Marvel grinning at her cheekily. Natasha realized that if she was to align with the Careers, they would be expecting her to take their side in the fighting.

She hadn't thought of that at all. Her mind raced as the clock continued to tick down, reaching 25 seconds, and then 20, and then 15. Her mind pieced together ideas, and immediately she formed a plan of action. She prayed it would work, and maintain her cover.

Steve, meanwhile, was not focusing on what was in the centre of the Cornucopia. He was more focused on his District 12 alliances, who were not only distanced quite far from him, but also from each other. That wasn't ideal, in his mind, considering the mayhem that would soon descend on the place. He mentally chose to move towards Katniss first, and then move from there.

Thor was faced with the same problem that Steve was having. He and Thresh had been conveniently placed next to each other, but were separated from Rue and Lila. The girls were somewhat close to each other, thankfully, but it didn't take away from the fact that both girls were small, unarmed, and in the middle of what was going to be a war in but seconds. Thor's hope was that, during the time in which he would be making his way towards the girls, the others would be too distracted with the wealth of the Cornucopia to pay them any mind. He did not dwell on the thought of what many of the Tributes could do to the girls once they had weapons within their hands. At that point, he hoped to be far from where the battle would be taking place.

The clock ticked down, and Thor slightly shifted his centre of gravity in order to get an optimal launch from his pedestal. As soon as "0" flashed on the screen, he blasted off of it, in synch with every other Tribute there.

As he ran, he was slammed in the side and lost his momentum. He forced his hands to the ground to maintain his balance, and spun around to face his attacker. Cato, the boy from District 2, did not waste time in launching himself at Thor. He swung his fist at Thor's head, which he easily blocked. He shoved the boy back in retaliation, and then charged away.

It was then that he realized that in his small scuffle with Cato, he had lost site of his allies. He was able to quickly recover site of Thresh, who was battling the District 7 boy over a pair of axes, but could not see the girls. Panic began to creep it's way into his mind, sending him onto the edge of suffocating fear. He turned around in a complete circle, his stomach clenching. "Rue!" he screamed. "Lila!"

Natasha had been able to sprint right off of her pedestal, and had gotten to the knives as she had planned. She braced herself when she saw Cato charging in her direction, but he merely tossed her a small, long dagger and armed himself with a sword. "Watch my back." he told her. "I've got yours."

She nodded, realizing her alliance was holding, and then saw the girl from District 7 creeping her way. Acting on her plan, she grasped onto the handle of one of the smaller daggers and launched it in the girl's direction. It was close enough to look like she was trying to hit her, and also to scare the girl off, but it was also far enough away that she was in no danger of being hit.

Steve had charged towards Katniss, and saw her running towards the Cornucopia, determination on her face. He followed her carefully, trying to guard her to the best of his ability. "Katniss!" he yelled. It threw her off her pace for a moment, and then he saw it. The boy from District 9 knocked her over, and raised a small axe. It happened quickly, in some aspects, but in some ways it seemed to crawl through time. As the boy raised his axe, he was stabbed in the back by the boy from District 1, who had thrown a knife. Steve watched as Katniss stared in horror, and tried to scramble away in shock. It was then that he acted. He raised towards her, dodging around a pair of girls who were in a scuffle over a backpack, and grabbed a small canteen lying on the ground nearby. He then came over to Katniss, and grabbed her by the arm, partially leading and partially shoving her in the direction of the forest. She grabbed a backpack that was lying on the ground, and he turned for a brief moment, glancing around to see if there was anything else that was of use to them. He dashed towards a spear and backpack set only to be met by the District 1 girl, who launched a knife straight at him. He dodged to the left, feeling it skim his shoulder, but not slowing down. He grabbed the pair, and turned to run, picking up the knife on his way. He counted on his instincts to preserve him as he ran towards Katniss. Steve stared in horror as a dagger whizzed by his head, right in the direction of Katniss' chest. She threw up the backpack in defense, and was shielded by the thick fabric. Steve didn't hesitate. He grabbed her arm and began to guide her towards the forest. Her shock seemed to wear off, and she began to run on her own.

During this time, Thor had been in a blind panic, shouting Rue and Lila's names. He stopped when he heard a voice scream his name. He stared, and then saw a sight that made his heart drop into the pit of his stomach.

On the ground, about 30 feet away, lay Lila, a long spear protruding from her gut.

"No." he whispered. He scrambled over to her, and saw that her eyes were beginning to glass over.

"Thor?" she whimpered.

"It's going to be alright." he whispered, trying to press his jacket sleeves against the wound.

"I'm scared." She coughed heavily, and Thor saw streaks of blood tinging her lips. He wiped at it gently, and tried to brace her head.

"I'm coming for you, 10!" he heard someone shout. Cato, from 10, gripped the handle of a sword and began to walk over to him with confident strides. Natasha stared at him, panic clear in her eyes. Small scuffles continued around them, and Thor could see several bodies scattered on the ground. He glanced down, and saw the girl's eyes beginning to close.

"Sleep in peace little one," he whispered, hugging her frame close. Then, he stood up and saw Cato beginning to run. He stared, trying to figure out what he could use to defend himself. Then Thresh came crashing to his side, a backpack over his shoulder and two axes in his hands. He shoved one in Thor's direction, eyes widening when he saw Lila on the ground.

"Rue's safe." he muttered.

"Then run." said Thor, giving one last sorrowful glance at Lila's frame.

They took off running towards a small wheat field to the left of the forest. They crashed into the grasses, panting heavily. Thresh glanced up, and his expression grew panicked. "No, no..."

"What?" Thor looked up at him.

"She's not here!"

"What do you mean she's not here?" Thor yelled, standing up suddenly.

"I told her to wait here. She...RUE!" Thresh stood up suddenly and yelled.

A scream answered him, and Thor spun back in the direction of the Cornucopia. He gripped the axe and charged forward, coming crashing into the clearing.

"Well, what have we here?" exclaimed Cato tauntingly, standing over Rue, who appeared to have fallen to the ground. He twirled a knife in his hands and grinned sadistically.

Thor saw Natasha on the other side of the clearing, running towards him. But she was too far away. She wasn't going to get there in time.

Cato raised his knife with a grin. "Should've stayed in the fields, kid."

**Ba Ba Bum! Oh, I love cliff hanger endings...when I'm the one writing them at least.**

**Reviews? **


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't have any authors' notes on this one, except that I have fulfilled 's request for a scene from SHIELD. If I haven't clarified before, I always welcome suggestions from my readers, and will sometimes put them into play if I feel they fit my plot.**

**Enjoy!**

There are times in life when thoughts don't come. When the only thing you can do is rely on your instincts to carry you through, and hope that they are enough.

Thor wasn't normally one to act with instincts. He relied on training, on preparation, and on sheer strength to carry him through a battle. As he entered the clearing though, he reacted too quickly, too boldly, for it to be anything but instinct.

Dropping his head low and charging forward, Thor let out a roar as he slammed the handle of his axe into Cato, sending him flying against the Cornucopia. He barely held back his strength, otherwise he was pretty sure that he would've sent him through the Cornucopia. To this point, he had not yet displayed his true strength within the view of the Capitol. He could imagine their surprise at how easily he overtook Cato.

As soon as he hit Cato, Thor spun around at the approach of Marvel, and crouched low. He tried not to growl, tried to maintain a sense of sanity. The Games were already wearing on him, the idea of having to fight children for the lives of other children pressing in on his mind.

Marvel raised up a sword and swung hard, which Thor deflected easily. Rue still lay a couple feet away from the Cornucopia, staring in shock at the scene playing out in front of her. Thor realized that he needed to get her out of there, away from the line of danger.

This was his thought as he deflected another blow from Marvel. Cato was leaning against the Cornucopia, trying to catch his breath from the solid blow Thor had dealt him. He glanced over at someone moving behind Thor, and it was then that he saw her.

The District 1 girl, Glimmer, was creeping around his left side while he focused on Cato and Marvel at his right. They worked like a pack, Thor realized, and he was surrounded.

When she pulled out a knife, he knew he had to act. Thor dropped the head of the axe and spun it around, dodging a head shot from Marvel and slamming it into his knees. He had used the flat side, rather than the blade, but it was enough to send Marvel to the ground in agony.

He circled to face Glimmer, wiping a thin trail of sweat from his cheek with the back of his hand. He went back into his crouch, catching Cato creeping back over towards the weapons, apparently having recovered enough from the blow to try and overtake Thor again.

As the girl raised her knife to throw it, Thor attempted to swing the flat end of the axe at her, as he had done with Marvel. She tried to duck down, though, and Thor watched in horror as the axe sliced across her midsection. Blood sprang forward, like that of a fountain, and she shrieked, falling to the ground.

"No." Thor whispered, watching the girl, who lay writhing at his feet. He glanced over, and saw Cato limping forward, clutching a spear in his hand. Thor had no choice. He had to act quickly.

Without turning to look back, he scooped up Rue in his arms and charged back into the wheat fields, waving at Thresh to follow him. They raced into the safety of the plants, but didn't stop for ten minutes, until they were certain that they had created distance between themselves and the Cornucopia.

Natasha breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Steve and Katniss run away from the Cornucopia. She gave chase, hoping to spur them on in their exit, and also to give her allies the illusion that she was handling it, keeping the heat off of them.

She returned a couple minutes later, and stared in horror at the site surrounding her. Bodies lay scattered across the ground, and she literally stepped in a pool of blood, one created by a girl laying near by. Natasha realized that it was the 8 girl, the girl from Steve's district. Emi.

Natasha tried to remember how old she was, but couldn't. She wasn't very old, though. Too young to be fighting in this madness.

She heard Marvel yell, and ran over to the Cornucopia. "What?" she asked.

Then she saw Glimmer lying on the ground, and stared in shock. The girl was coughing up blood, and a jagged wound striped her torso.

"What happened?" she cried, falling to her knees beside Cato, who was trying to support her head. Natasha noticed a huge red mark across his face. Clove appeared, silent as a cat, from the other side of the Cornucopia.

"10." spat Sador. He stood behind Natasha and shook his head. "The asshole from 10, the big guy? He happened."

Marvel shook his head. "We had the kid from 11 pinned down here. The little girl? He came roaring in, and seriously, Natasha? He was a monster. He made us look like amateurs."

'Thor did this?' thought Natasha in surprise. 'Thor attacked Glimmer?'

Clove touched the back of Natasha's head, and stared at her, as if trying make her understand something. Natasha stared back, not sure what her problem was.

Clove shook her head. "Did you get the girl from 11?" she asked, turning to Marvel and Cato.

Cato shook his head. "No. 10 picked her up and booted it into there-" he pointed to the wheat fields. "With the big guy from 11. They've got some sort of alliance going on."

It was then that Natasha understood what had happened. She had noticed Thor with the pair from 11, and the girl from 9 in the training facilities. She hadn't realized they'd formed an alliance, though, although she realized that she probably should have saw it coming.

She glanced around, looking at the faces of the bodies, and realized that the little girl form 9 was there. So Thor had lost one of his allies...Natasha winced. No wonder he had come in storming to save Rue.

"We'll get them." Cato told Glimmer, as her chest began to heave. "I promise you Glimmer. We'll get our hands on them somehow."

Natasha was thankful that she had mastered her poker face, because she was capable of surpressing how much his statement disturbed her. She wasn't sure how long she'd be able to keep her own alliance if it involved attacking Thor and his alliances.

She glanced up at Clove, who was still staring back at Natasha. Natasha couldn't figure out why alarm was flashing through her eyes, too.

Meanwhile, Steve and Katniss had continued to run into the forest. They managed to get away without being seen by anyone but Natasha, but Steve continued to glance over his shoulder. It wasn't until Katniss leaned against a tree, panting, that he stopped running.

"How are you not tired?" she asked, staring at him.

Steve shrugged. "I'm in good shape."

Katniss shook her head, and sucked a big breath in. "So am I. But I can't run that far without being even a little bit winded."

Steve shrugged again, and she dropped the topic.

"We should find a place to hide out until morning." said Katniss. She glanced up at the sky. "The Careers always like to hunt on the first night, rather than taking shelter. We're sitting ducks out here."

Steve nodded. "Any preference on where we go?"

As soon as they had climbed to the middle branches of a tree, he regretted not being the one to choose where they slept. Steve hadn't been able to climb anywhere near as high as Katniss had, due to an obvious size difference, but he still sat several feet from the ground. He shook his head.

"And this is a good idea why?"

Katniss snorted. "Because the Careers only kill who they can see right in front of them. They're not going to check every single tree for Tributes. And even if they did-" She pointed in the direction of the Cornucopia. "They've got a lot of trees to check before they get to us. We'll be ok until morning."

She reached into the backpack, and motioned for him to do the same to his. He found several things within it, including thick gloves and a long piece of rope. A couple packages of dried fruit, some crackers, and some beef strips made up the food supply, as well as a canteen, which they had filled earlier at a stream they had passed. Katniss had found water purifying drops within her pack, and had warned Steve not to drink the water before the drops had done their job.

She pointed to the rope. "Tie yourself onto the branch. That way you won't fall out." She began to tie herself in, and passed him a couple pieces of bread. "I had some in my sack. We shouldn't eat too much, since we want to keep some sort of a supply. Tomorrow we'll go check for some roots and plants. It'll make our food go farther."

Steve couldn't help but wonder at how she knew all this, but he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to ask.

He continued to search through his pack, and pulled out a package of matches. "Couldn't we start a fire?" he suggested.

Katniss snorted. "Sure. If you want to be dead in an hour. It'll be a great signal to the Careers as to where we are."

Right. Because they were still being hunted. By children a quarter of his age.

He heard her shift above him, and cleared his throat. "Good-night Katniss."

She sighed. "Just so we're clear, you're not going to kill me in my sleep, right?"

He had to smile. "Absolutely not."

"Good."

They sat in silence for a couple moments. "What about Peeta?" he asked.

He was answered with silence.

She sighed again. "I wish we knew where he was."

"We'll find him." Steve promised.

"Sure." she said. "If the Careers don't find him first."

"Right." sighed Steve.

He had just began to fall asleep when loud music startled him awake. The words: The Fallen, flashed across the sky, and Steve stared in shock as he watched names and pictures of Tributes, who he assumed were dead, flicker across.

The girl from District 1 was dead. The girl from 3 was as well, along with the boy from 5. Both from 6. The boy from 7 was dead. The girl was still alive, though. The next one made his heart sink. Little Emi from 8 was dead. In attempting to protect Katniss, he had failed to protect her.

He thought of her family, of her mother, who had screamed when her name was called. He didn't want to imagine the scene at their home that night, as she mourned the loss of her daughter.

The girl and the boy from 9 were dead. Steve thought that the girl was a friend of Thor's, but he wasn't sure. And then that was it, which meant that all the Tributes from 10, 11, and 12 were still alive, wherever they were. That also meant that 9 tributes were dead, which left 15 still alive.

Steve shook his head again. He was supposed to be in here, protecting as many as possible. He was protecting one, at the moment. He couldn't help but think of the 9 that had died today, 9 children that wouldn't be going home. 9 children who's families would be sitting at their televisions tonight, staring in shock as the death of their children was played over and over for the world to watch.

He stared up, seeing Katniss' arm hanging off the tree, and realized that it was impossible to protect them all. Until SHIELD came, all he could do was protect the one he was with now.

But it didn't mean he had to sit by and let the Careers kill.

_ In our world, at SHIELD Headquarters..._

"How are they doing?" asked Fury quietly. He stood behind Clint, who's eyes were glued to the screen. He had agreed to monitor the team within the arena while Bruce, Tony, and Jane continued to work on a way to penetrate it. Tony glanced up from his computer and strolled over.

"They're doing pretty good." he answered for Clint. Clint glanced over at Fury and nodded. "They're doing ok." he affirmed.

"Blondie's fine!" Tony called over to Jane, who had glanced up from her work with a question written her eyes. She smiled, and went back to working out whatever equation she had scribbled across her paper.

Bruce shook his head. "Not all the kids are, though." He had been standing off to the side, watching as they replayed the death of a young redhaired girl, over and over.

Fury shook his head. "We knew we couldn't protect them all. But we wanted to get some of them out of there."

Tony swore. "If only we could get this damn thing working, we could get them all out right now."

Fury sighed. "Any luck with it?"

"We're close." Tony admitted. "But that's it. We're just close."

"Keep working." What else was there to say?

Fury turned his attention back to Clint, who was rubbing his hands across his thighs anxiously. "Have they figured it out yet?"

He chuckled, despite what he had just forced himself to watch. "Not yet, sir. I thought Natasha might, but she's..." He searched for a word. "A bit out of her element. I think she's just trying to protect them. The Careers, I mean."

"And Thor and Steve?"

"They haven't interacted enough. But I think Natasha will catch on soon enough."

Fury nodded. "I hope so. Let me know when they catch on, clear?"

"As day." Clint said, turning his attention back to the monitor with a sigh. "She should've caught on, though. You know what the first thing I taught her when she joined SHIELD was?" he asked.

Fury glanced back. "What?"

"Always look beyond the known. Look for the unknown element if you want to see the whole picture."

"And is she looking for it?"

"She's looking, but she's not seeing." Clint sighed. "It's wearing her down, this whole shit-fest. But I know Tasha. She'll catch on. I just hope it's not too late."

**Is this making any sense to anyone? Anyone who doesn't know my plan, anyways...If it doesn't, that's good! You're not supposed to figure it out yet...**

**Hope you guys enjoyed! I'll update as soon as I can.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't have any big author notes this chapter either...As always, reviews are amazing! I love them with a passion...If you don't mind taking but a moment to review, I'd really appreciate it! Also, if you have any suggestions about anything you want to see in here, feel free to throw them at me! I won't always use them, but I'll definitely consider it if I can fit it in.**

In his dream, Steve was dancing. He was light, happy, and laughing, and Peggy's eyes were sparkling like the stars on a night without a moon. He laughed, and for a moment, everything felt so right. Peggy smiled at him, and twirled into his arms.

"Steve." she whispered, leaning in closer.

He was jolted awake in his tree by a scream that rang through the night. His eyes were immediately on the branch above him.

"Katniss?" he whispered, his voice cracking.

"Shh," she shushed. "Look behind us and keep quiet."

Steve's heart pounded as he turned and peeked behind the tree. He saw a fire, glowing like a beacon in the darkness. He heard loud laughter, and then saw a group of youth come trampling through the forest, not noticing or not concerned of the amount of noise they were making.

"Did you hear her?" laughed a large boy from District 4. "Ahh! Please don't kill me!"

Steve realized that Katniss' plan of hiding within the trees was not as crazy as he had originally supposed. The Careers weren't looking in the trees for them, but rather just wandering through the forest in the hopes of stumbling upon an unfortunate Tribute. He glanced down, and saw Natasha walking behind the group. If she saw him, and he was sure that she did, she gave no indication.

"Hey lover boy!" shouted Cato. "Are you sure she went this way?"

Steve had to hide a gasp as he saw Peeta walk into the clearing, hauling a backpack. 'Peeta was working with the Careers?' he thought, staring in shock. The Careers continued walking, but Steve and Katniss remained silent until the sounds of them had faded into the distance.

"Katniss?" Steve whispered.

"I-he's with them." she whispered back. "He's helping them hunt for me, Steve."

"I know." he sighed. "I wish I knew why."

"We...we should sleep." said Katniss. "If they're hunting us, we need to get far away from here."

She was emotionless in her words, Steve realized, but the break in her voice betrayed her. He didn't know if what to say, but at the sight of her hand hanging down from the tree, he decided to take Tony's advice and be impulsive for once in his lifetime. He reached up and grabbed it, giving it a firm squeeze.

She said nothing, but she didn't pull away either, so Steve counted it as a win.

Meanwhile, Natasha had to feel a little bit smug. She was still angry about being too late to help the District 7 girl, but she had been travelling back with Peeta and hadn't been able to stop the Careers. Sador had killed her, and he was still gloating about the girl's panic. But they hadn't noticed Steve and Katniss. As smart and well trained as these Careers apparently were, they hadn't caught site of the two who lay hidden in the branches of a tree. She had to admit, they weren't incredibly easy to spot. But Natasha had always had the gift of knowing when she was being watched, and had immediately felt their eyes upon her. A quick, subtle observation of the area had confirmed what she had believed. There they sat, safely tucked into the tree's protective limbs.

They continued walking, listening to Marvel and Cato reliving yet another training moment. They were like little boys, Natasha had decided. Each trying to best the other with their spectacular stories in order to win some sort of merit within the pack's pecking order.

They were as predictable as Sador. Sador was a ruthless killer, to be certain, and skilled in what he did. But the intelligence factor was basically nonexistent with him.

It was Clove that was the mystery to Natasha. She was skilled in the arts of the Games, to be certain. She was smart. She silently assessed everyone with sharp eyes, and she made Natasha nervous. It was as if she could see through so many of Natasha's facades, as if she knew something that Natasha didn't.

It bothered Natasha. She was missing something. She knew it. She just couldn't figure out what.

'Look beyond the known.'

Natasha nearly swung around and threw a knife at the air behind her. A voice, Clint's voice, came to her clear as day. It was what she had first learned, when Clint had taken her in. When she had come with him to SHIELD, broken and angry and damned to hell for all she knew, he had been there helping her along. Giving her advice that she didn't even know was relevant. He had been her redemption. In those moments when she was so scared and broken and lost in the unknown, and in the moments that she had been so angry at the way the agents in SHIELD stared at her in judgement, he had been at her side, coaching her along.

She let a smile trace her lips for but a moment, and then realized with disappointment that it was not Clint behind her. It had been her own imagination, she was sure. But the words didn't leave her, and like a slap to the face they stunned her with their simplicity. She nearly stopped in her tracks in surprise.

How had she missed it? Had she been so absorbed within her own thoughts that she didn't realize what was right in front of her?

Apparently, she had. But remembering what Clint said, she had realized what was right in front of her the whole time. What she should've noticed from the start.

She glanced around her, as if afraid that her newly found knowledge would be snatched away from her by a bystander. She took a couple deep breaths, and was about to round the corner when she heard yet another scream.

"Not again!" she whispered, breaking into a sprint. When she rounded the corner, she hissed violently. Little Rue was pressed up against a bank, her eyes filled with terror.

The girl caught site of Natasha trying to round the corner, and darted to the left, making one last effort to escape. The panic flashed in her eyes as she tried to squirm away. Cato thrust her back with a laugh.

"I don't know what you're doing all the way out here, 10, but it was your biggest mistake. When are you going to learn to stick with your bodyguards?"

He picked up his sword with a smirk, and waved in front of her face. "I think Glimmer would want it to be a little bloody, don't you?" He growled, and then slapped the girl with the back of his hand. The loud clapping sound echoed through the forest, which was deathly silent for a moment. "Considering it was because of you that died?" He didn't raise his voice, but said it in a furious monotone, his eyes blazing.

That was all Natasha needed to see. Her timing impeccable, she pushed past Cato, using a sweep kick with one leg to put him to the ground. She shoved Rue to the right, and placed her body in front of the girl.

"Not this one." she snarled back at Cato, who was staring at her in surprise. "You're not getting her."

"Natasha!" said Marvel sharply. "What're you doing?"

"What's right!" came a new voice. Natasha turned her attention to the clearing she had just run through, and saw Katniss and Steve standing there, both looking prepared for a fight. "She's doing what's right." The girl glanced at Rue, and sadness traced her face. Natasha saw Steve place a hand on the small of her back, and whisper something in her ear. Katniss stared at Natasha in surprise, but then nodded slowly.

Sador snarled in her direction. "This isn't your battle, 12."

Katniss shook her head. "It's all of ours. What we're doing? It's so...it's so wrong. We're just..." She turned in Peeta's direction and gave him a bitter smile. "We're just pieces in their game. That's all we're worth. So that they can keep us under control, and so that we don't question anything. Because then we'll be afraid, and just be stuck in the fear. But it doesn't change that this is wrong! Why are we all so set on killing each other, on seeing each other as the enemy? The real enemy, the real demon here?" She pointed to a camera in the nearby tree that was swooping back and forth frantically. "They're the enemy. We're not each other's enemies. Not if we don't chose to be."

"What kind of shit is this?" asked Marvel, staring at the group surrounding the clearing in shock. "We're not here to start a riot. Let's just get this over with!"

"Perhaps you should consider your words carefully, my young friend. We're more capable of ending things than you realize."

"Thor." whispered Natasha in relief.

"Aye." said Thor, stepping beside Natasha and glaring at Cato. Thresh ran behind him, his breath heavy, but his eyes intent on Rue. He stepped towards Natasha menacingly until Thor placed a hand on his shoulder to hold him back. "And I'm not in a good mood, either. I suggest you step carefully, boy."

"What the fuck?" swore Cato, swooping around his sword, as if something had snapped him out of the trance he had been in but a moment before. He took a stab towards Katniss, who jumped back nimbly. Steve let out a growl and raced forward to protect her, but did not reach Cato before the Career was thrown to the ground. Peeta had rushed forward to hold him back, but then yowled in pain as Cato's sword slashed his thigh open.

"Peeta!" screamed Katniss. She rushed forward as Steve went in to restrain Cato, throwing the boy's hands into a locked position.

"Hey Katniss." Peeta whispered, giving her a small grin. His face was drained of color as he winced in pain. Cato yelled in fury as he tried to wrestle against Steve, and found no give, no freedom from the restraints placed upon him by the super soldier.

For a moment, everything was silent, besides the heavy breathing of the Tributes, locked in each other's seething gazes.

"Is it safe to speak freely at this point?" Thor asked, breaking the silence.

"Indeed it is." came a new voice, one that made Natasha burst into a wide smile. Any intensity fled her mind as she watched him step into the arena. She shook her head. So much for always being able to see a situation in it's whole.

**I almost feel bad for leaving you guys here. But I'll live with myself. :D Reviews are awesome! Sorry for the shorter chapter, but there was no way I was passing up on a cliff hanger as perfect as this.**


	9. Chapter 9

**You guys are absolutely amazing, do you know that? I had come on to check to see if I had any reviews, and I found a whole bunch...you guys just made my day! I'm really glad you guys are enjoying it, and because I saw all these people asking for a new chapter, I had to give you guys an update! Again, thanks for the criticism and the praise, I appreciate both. Just a couple shout-outs:**

**Ethan Francis: I promise I will not abandon my stories. I will always finish what I start...no worries there!**

**BatfamilyFan101: You're the first person who's remembered him! **

**Marcus S. Lazarus: Thank you for the in depth review of my story...I really enjoyed reading it, and I'm glad you think I've got Fury figured out alright...If it's not totally obvious, my comic knowledge is limited. I'm going off of what I saw in the movie, and what I can get from my many brothers...So I'm always glad to hear when I've got something right!**

**That being said, Chapter 9, take it away!**

_Flashback:_

_Cato yelled in fury as he tried to wrestle against Steve, and found no give, no freedom from the restraints placed upon him by the super soldier._

_For a moment, everything was silent, besides the heavy breathing of the Tributes, locked in each other's seething gazes._

_"Is it safe to speak freely at this point?" Thor asked, breaking the silence._

_"Indeed it is." came a new voice, one that made Natasha burst into a wide smile. Any intensity fled her mind as she watched him step into the arena. She shook her head. So much for always being able to see a situation in it's whole._

"Loki!" laughed Thor, grinning widely at his brother.

Loki gave a polite nod, and then turned to smirk at Natasha. She had to shake her head. She had disappointed him, in not recognizing what was so strange about Clove in the first place.

Steve hadn't figured it out yet, however. He stared in confusion as Loki walked over. "What're you doing here?" he asked.

Loki smiled. "Did you really believe, Captain, that SHIELD would send it's finest into a place as barbaric as this, without providing them with some form of back up?"

Steve thought for a moment, and finally Natasha had to laugh. "Clove."

Loki grinned widely this time. "It was rather clever, was it not?" In that moment, his form began to shimmer and move, like ripples on a lake, and before them stood Clove. "It certainly fooled you, Agent Romanoff. I must admit, it was a bit surprising that one with talents such as yours did not realize..."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Yes Loki. You did a good job of fooling all of us. But in case we haven't forgotten..." She motioned to the trees around them, and then pointed to the Tributes. "We still have a job to finish."

"Of course." said Loki. "As for them." He imitated Natasha's motions towards the trees, which contained the cameras that monitored the Tributes. "They are not a factor right now. At the moment their cameras are currently malfunctioning in a most unusual fashion. The leaders of the Capitol are a bit distracted at this point, it would seem."

"I'm still confused." sighed Steve.

"My brother holds the ability to change the physical appearance of his body." explained Thor, casting a glance of admiration in Loki's direction. "He is capable of changing his appearance to that of a different male, or of a female. Occasionally, he has been known to take other forms besides that of a human..."

"Which is another story." Loki smoothly interrupted, shooting a small glare back at Thor. "The point is, our friends in the Capitol are not going to be entirely pleased when they realize that we've hoodwinked them entirely, and wisked away their playing field."

"We're going home?" asked Natasha.

"In time, yes." said Loki. "But, in order to find a way to leave this place, we had to find a weak spot in the force field containing it. Mr. Stark did a remarkable job finding the ideal location of extraction, which is over there."

He pointed to the west, and Natasha had to groan. "You mean you can't just wisk us out of here?"

"How far, brother?" Thor interrupted.

"Several hours." Loki admitted. "And with the Capitol," he glanced up towards the sky. "Less than pleased at the moment, it's safe to say we're in for some trouble. We should move."

"What's going on?" asked Rue, staring up at Thor. He smiled and knelt down on the ground beside her.

"Rue, do you remember when you questioned my manner of speech?"

She nodded, her ringlets bobbing. "You didn't sound like Jaye."

"That's right little one." He smiled. "The truth is that I am not from District 10."

Thresh glared at him, and Thor held up his hand in an effort to be allowed to continue. "We come from a very different world than yours, little one. We became aware of this-" He motioned to the Tributes surrounding. "And decided to be of aid."

"You're going to help us escape?" asked Katniss softly, looking up from Peeta's side, where she had been trying to supress the blood flow.

"Yes." answered Steve. "We have some friends who are helping us. We have to follow him-" he pointed to Loki. "So that we can get out of here."

"What about our families?" challenged Thresh. "What'll happen to them when we disappear?"

"Do you really believe that we'd just take you away, so that the Games can start all over next year?" asked Natasha. "We're not just challenging the Hunger Games. We're helping you break the rule of the Capitol."

"It'll mean a war." warned Katniss, clutching Peeta's hand.

"And we all know how well those have gone in the past." he added dryly, wincing in pain.

"We're prepared for that." said Loki smoothly. "I promise you, we are the people capable of making this happen. You need to trust us now."

Rue shrugged. "I trust you." she said to Thor pointedly. She hit Thresh on the leg. "You should too."

Thresh rolled his eyes. "We'll both come."

Katniss glanced up from Peeta, her eyes desperate. Loki smiled and knelt beside the pair. Peeta gasped in pain, and winced as Loki pulled the cloth back from the wound. He waved his hand over it, and the flesh began to knit itself back together. Katniss stared in shock, and Loki gave a small smile.

"Now will you come?"

All she could manage was a nod, and Peeta smiled at her. He stood beside Loki, and then offered her his hand. She accepted it tentatively.

Thor turned to the Career boys, who were standing to the side in disbelief. Steve still held Cato down, despite the fact that the boy no longer battled him. "And you, boys? Will you join our alliance?"

"Why?" snorted Sador. "We can still win this."

Thor chuckled. "You have no chance, young warrior. You do not have conviction of the cause you claim to fight for, and you cannot defeat those who have come to stand against it."

He shook his head. "No."

Sador and Cato exchanged a glance, and it seemed as if they agreed to stand together against the rebellion of the Tributes. Natasha fought back a groan. "We can't defend you against the Capitol if you're not willing to work with us."

"We don't need to be defended from the Capitol." spat Cato, still squirming against Steve.

"You say that now." mused Loki. He turned to Marvel. "I suppose you stand with them?"

Marvel shrugged. "Nah. I'll help you guys out."

Cato looked like he had just been kicked in the gut. "What?" he roared.

Marvel laughed. "C'mon Cato. What's the worst that can happen? You let a couple people live?"

"They're going against everything we've been taught!" yelled Sador.

"What if we've been taught wrong?" interrupted Katniss.

Loki nudged Thor, and pointed towards the sky that he had been previously studying. Thor winced as he saw a small amount of movement, realizing what he was looking at. The Capitol's ships, which had the ability of fantastic camouflage, were now hovering above the arena, trying to seek the Tributes out. Loki was capable of blocking the Capitol's ability to track them, but he could not help but wonder for how long he would be able to keep them all hidden.

"What do you mean?" asked Thresh, standing besides Rue now, his hand on her shoulder.

"Does anyone really, really believe in that the Capitol is doing this for our good? For the good of our families? They're doing this for them!"

"They're maintaining order." argued Sador.

"By what? Forcing us to kill each other? Forcing a little girl-" She pointed towards Rue, raising her voice as she spoke. "To kill, or be killed? Why do any of us think this is okay?"

"The Capitol-" spat Cato

"The Capitol doesn't give a shit about any of us." said Thresh quietly. "We're nothing to them."

"Pieces in a game." muttered Peeta.

"And what if we can be remembered as something more?" asked Marvel thoughtfully. He gave a small smile as everyone turned to face him. "I mean, there're a lot of people remembered as winners of the Hunger Games. 73, at least. But...I mean, how many people are remembered as besting the Capitol?"

"District 13 is remembered for trying. And it worked out so well for them." said Sador with a bitter laugh. He turned towards Steve with a snarl. "I will not be part of some sort of freak rebellion. I have been trained to be a champion, and I will bring honor to my District."

He reached behind his back, and before anyone could fully follow what was happening he was stepping towards Steve, knife in hand.

Natasha flung herself between them, slamming into Sador's legs to knock him slightly off balance. She braced herself on her other leg and swung around, clipping him across the head to knock him towards the ground.

As he fell, he swept out dangerously with the knife, aiming for her ankles. She jumped over it nimbly, and stepped back to maintain her balance. He tried to flip over to come after her again, but was held back by Thresh, who had reacted moments later than Natasha. Thresh tried to pin his arms down, but was shoved back by Sador. He let out a low growl as they circled each other.

Sador glanced to his left, and then began to run towards the path that Thresh, Thor, and Rue had come from. Loki stared at him, his eyes panicked.

"Sador-" He began to warn.

"No!" yelled Sador. "I will not be remembered as the one who betrayed the Capitol. You cannot drag me into this!"

Loki ran forward, trying to stop him. "Stay where you are!" he begged, as the boy stepped further away.

Sador shook his head in disgust, and ran forward. Loki tried to follow him, but as Sador stumbled over a clump of roots blocking the path, he hit some form of thin, transparent barrier.

Loki tried to extend the shield he was using to protect the rest, but could not act quickly enough. A loud buzzing sound overtook the forest, and a large spear shot down from the sky, piercing Sador through the gut. He gave a garbled cry as it shot through him clearly, falling to the ground with legs twitching. He stared back at Loki, but Loki realized that he was unable to see him where he stood. He grimaced as he watched the spear begin to rise, lifting the dying boy into the air and carrying him away. Even as he was lifted, though, Loki could see the life draining from Sador's eyes. And then he was gone, and it was silent again.

He turned back to see Steve standing behind him, holding Cato's arms together and staring in shock. Loki shook his head.

"I was too late. He wouldn't listen."

The Captain graciously ignored the tremor in Loki's voice, and shook his head. "We can't help him now Loki. We have to keep moving forward."

Cato, for once, appeared to have nothing to say. Steve seemed to sense this and loosened his grip. "You alright?"

"They killed him." The statement was an eerie balance between a declaration and a question.

Loki nodded. "They did."

Cato's voice broke. "Why?"

Loki turned to him. "Because despite what you believe, you have to them no value beyond that of a pawn. They had a use for you, boy. But because the use has since expired, you are-" He pointed back to the clearing. "You all are a liability to them now. That is all you are worth to them."

Loki could see Cato struggling to process his words, and he pressed on. "Listen to me, Cato. They promised you many things, because it allowed for you to fall into line and be used for their greater purpose. It takes courage to break those bonds that they've put on your mind, about who you are and what you are entitled to. Everything they taught you was to advance the hold of their power. Everything they ever told you, everything they ever promised. But they do not tell you the whole story. There is no glory in death like this. All it is is their power."

"I just wanted to make them proud. My parents, and my mentors, and my District...They would've been so happy if I came back the winner." He sounded like more of a child, than anything. Loki sighed softly and shoved away the reminder.

"Happy because of what? Because of some sort of brutish glorified experience?" Loki went up to Cato and placed his hands on his shoulders. "You are more than that. And their pride, if it is pride worth having, will come from you doing what you believe is right."

"And if they're not proud?" Cato challenged, staring at Loki. "Then what?"

Loki sighed again. "Then you acknowledge that their pride is not of any value, and you look for the approval in those who seek to give it to you for the right reasons."

He shook his head. "It is not an easy lesson to learn, but it is one worth learning. Many, many conflicts and inner demons could be resolved if it was easier learned."

Cato's knees seemed to buckle beneath him, and Steve let him go down to the ground. He went over and stood by a tree a good ten feet off, nodding at Loki to continue.

"Cato, you are a leader. You are gifted in the arts of battle in a way that few your age can boast. We need your help now. We need an ally who we can count on to be one of strength. I believe that you can be that for us."

He stared at Loki, his expression unreadable. "The Capitol's hunting us."

"Yes." Loki said with a nod. "I'm capable of protecting us until we reach the barrier, though. If you will trust me, and help us get there?"

After a frew moments of complete silence, he nodded. "Yes."

Loki smiled. "Good."

They walked back towards the place where the rest of the Tributes stood, many eyeing each other nervously. Natasha began to run through a mental headcount.

"How many are we missing?" she asked, turning to Thor. He stayed silent for a moment, thinking.

"Who's still alive?"

Steve began to count off. "Marvel and Cato. The boy from three, whoever he is. The girl from five."

"Foxface?" questioned Katniss. Steve's lips twitched. "Finch."

"And then Jaye, Rue, Thresh, Katniss, and Peeta, right?" Natasha asked.

Steve nodded in affirmation, and then winced. "That's a lot of them gone."

She smiled sadly. "We'll get these ones home, though."

"Well, some of them anyways." said Thor. "Jaye, Finch, and the District 3 boy-"

"August." Rue offered. Thor smiled at her in thanks.

"And August will still be in here."

"Saying they're still alive..." sighed Natasha.

"They are." said Loki thoughtfully.

He met Natasha's inquisitive stare with a smile. "What I mean is, the Capitol expects us to go and find them. So they're leaving them alive, most likely."

"Then why'd the kill Sador?" she asked.

"Because the last time they had any indication of where we were, Sador was with us." he said. "They assumed he was part of our group, but know that Finch, Jaye, and August are not."

"We can't just leave them." argued Natasha.

"But they expect us to come back for them!" said Thor. "It's a trap, a dangerous one. Besides, we need to get them out of here." he pointed to the Tributes, who were staring as the four of them argued.

"I can go." said Natasha. She turned to Loki. "There has to be something you can do to...extend your little shield or something. Or give me one. I'll go after them, you get the rest to the portal."

Loki pondered this. "The portal will be open for a day upon our arrival. Can you be there in time?"

"Of course." she said briskly. "I can do this."

Loki sighed, and raised his hand, then lowered it. Natasha felt a warm glow enter her, warming her to her toes, and glanced up at Loki. He nodded. "It will last for two days, Natasha. That's all the time you have."

"Okay." she waved him off. "Then I need to get going." She stood up and grabbed a knife, strapping it to her thigh. She also took a small backpack, making sure she left enough supplies for the rest of the group. She turned to leave when she heard someone scramble to their feet.

She looked behind her and saw Marvel, grabbing the handle of an axe with a cheeky grin.

"No." she said firmly.

He grinned. "Yep. What? I'm going to let you go on your own?"

"I'm trained for this. I can take care of myself, thank you." she said crisply.

He shrugged. "I'm trained too, you know."

"For war?"

"For hell." His smile remained, and Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Look," said Marvel. "If you don't take me with you, I'll just follow you. Then the Capitol will kill me, and you'll be left feeling horribly guilty for the rest of your life."

She shook her head and turned to Loki. "How do I expand the shield?"

He smiled, and gave her a brief tutorial on how to project it to protect her and Marvel. She caught on quickly, and then turned to Marvel. "Keep up, will you?"

"But of course!" he said, falling into step behind her. "You act as if it's the end of the world bringing someone else along."

"I don't like working with many people. There's one person I'll trust on a job, and no offense, but you're not him."

Marvel shrugged. "I guess I get to prove how incredibly trustworthy I am, then?"

She turned to glare at him, and he smiled again. She rolled her eyes and kept walking.

'Soon Clint.' she thought to herself as she climbed over a fallen tree. 'I'll be home soon.'


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello again to my awesome readers!**

**It's been awhile, Chapter 10 has taken some time. But I've neglected you guys long enough. There were many, many directions this could have gone, and the more I explored the more I became unsure of the direction to take it. I do like the direction, though, and I hope you guys do as well!**

**Thanks for the follows, the faves, and the reviews. They're a huge incentive for me to keep rolling out the chapters for you guys. I appreciate everyone who's jumped along on this ride! Hope I don't lose anyone on the way with this.**

**Quick character count recap, just to make sure I haven't lost anybody:**

**Along with Steve, Thor, and Natasha, the Tributes alive are Marvel, Cato, August (From 3), Finch (From 5, better known as Foxface), Jaye (From 10), Rue and Thresh, and Katniss and Peeta. Natasha and Marvel have split off from the group that is heading towards the portal in the force field, in order to find August, Finch, and Jaye. Loki has given them a protective spell that he is using to protect the rest of the group from the Capitol. Natasha and Marvel have about two days before the portal will be closed, after which they'll be left to the Capitol. **

**And on with Chapter 10! As always, reviews are awesome, I don't own anyone, blah blah blah.**

Natasha puffed as she scrambled over loose rubble. Marvel had a theory about where Jaye would be, and they had chosen to take a straight path towards the lake. It was easier said than done. Because of the direction that the Careers had gone in their hunt for the other Tributes, they had chosen a longer path with the knowledge that the chances of a Tribute scaling the small cliff they were now were slim.

The cliff itself was roughly a kilometer in hight, which in itself was not as bad of a distance as it could have been. But it was steep. In some areas it was nearly straight rock climbing, which Natasha handled well. She had been trained to rock climb without a partner because she never knew what sort of situation she would find herself in. She didn't exactly expect to use that training on a mission to rescue children from a dictating government in another world, but she was grateful regardless.

It was Marvel that she wasn't so sure about. He kept up, to his credit, but his face was pale with the effort and the position he was climbing in. He saw her staring, and gave a little grin.

"I'm keeping up."

She nodded, and said nothing. It was strange, to her, the fact that she tolerated him. She didn't pretend to not know why. He reminded her of Clint. A younger Clint, to be certain, but Marvel was what Natasha could imagine Clint to be at that age. He was bold, mouthy, and had a dry sense of humor that occasionally surprised her. And he was determined to stick with her, to help her out, which was both endearing and annoying at the same time. And so she tolerated him tagging along.

She winced as she tried to scramble through a sharp ascent that was covered in loose gravel and rocks. Her knee slammed down, catching on the jagged edge of one of the many stones that tumbled down below her, but she didn't stop to nurse the pain. Instead she pushed herself up with the palms of her hands, propelling herself forward. The cruel ascent offered a slight respite, which she gladly took. She glanced down as Marvel tried to follow the path she took, barely holding his footing. He panted, and she watched, her expression neutral.

He glanced up. "I'm coming. Just, give me a second."

She read his intent a moment too late, as he tried to jump for a ledge in front of him. He caught ahold of a small cleft of rock imbedded into the dirt, and for a couple seconds he held himself there. Then his grip slipped, his nails scraped against the gritty surface as he tumbled back down another 20 feet.

"Marvel!" she yelled, as she saw him regain his footing.

"I'm fine!" he called, standing stiff legged in order to catch his breath. "I'm fine." he muttered under his breath again. He wasn't necessarily as fine as he let on, but he wasn't about to give that away to Natasha.

They climbed on for another half hour before they reached the top. Both were panting and grunting by the time they reached . They stood for a moment, gasping as they surveyed the arena around them.

"Now what?" asked Marvel, when he felt he could breath again.

Natasha sighed. "We need to figure out where they might've gone. It's hit and miss, really."

Marvel thought for a moment. "What if we bring them to us?"

Natasha arched her eyebrow, and he continued. "If we, I don't know...light something on fire, something that sends off a signal of where we are, maybe they'll come to us."

"To try and kill us?" said Natasha, doubtfully.

Marvel shrugged. "It's better than looking through a billion trees and still not finding anyone.

Natasha continued to look thoughtful. "It'll signal Panem of our location."

"Not if we get a decent distance from them right away. They can't see us, they'll have no clue where we are!"

"And what if they kill the other three kids before we can get to them?"

"We'll have to take that chance."

Natasha sighed. "It's our best bet, I guess." She admitted. "Where?"

Marvel pointed to a drier looking section of forest. "That part. If we're lucky, it'll send off enough smoke without spreading very far."

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a packet of matches. She tossed them to Marvel. "We'd better hurry, then."

Meanwhile, the rest of the Tributes were continuing on their way to the random spot in the west, where Loki insisted they needed to be. The scorching heat of the day was wearing upon them, and they all began to feel the affects.

They had flopped down beside a small stream to refresh themselves and their water supply. Rue sank to the ground beside Thor and Thresh, looking as pale as one with her coloring could.

"Are you alright?" asked Thor, watching her closely.

She shook her head. "That was a long walk."

Thresh laughed. "What'd you think it'd be? Besides, you're used to walking!"

"Yeah," said Rue. "But at least my life didn't depend on it!"

Both grew quiet, and Rue's face suddenly fell. "We're never going back, are we? Back to District 11, I mean?"

"Likely not, little one." said Thor gently. "We need to protect you now."

She nodded, and lay her head back against the tree, looking more exhausted than any of them. When Steve declared that they needed to keep moving, she let out a small groan. Thor noticed, and scooped her over his shoulder, continuing without saying a word. Loki watched him with a small smile, and continued to lead the way.

They had continued for another half day, saying very little as they travelled, until they reached a small cluster of grassy hills. Thor led the way over the hills, and Rue craned her neck to see the newest scenery. Her jaw dropped as she took it in, and she turned to Thor in shock.

"What," she asked. "Is that?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Wow.**

**Here I am, running around trying to plan a wedding. Buy a dress, find a place to get married...all that stuff. Today I figured I would come, post my new chapter, and see if anyone was still reading this thing. Wow, guys! My jaw dropped to the floor when I saw the stats...You guys are amazing. Seriously! Really, really amazing.**

**Enough of that. You didn't come here to read my blabbering. You came to read about our heroes, and what's up with them right now. I won't ****make you wait any longer. Usual stuff, own no one, reviews are awesome, and on with the story...**

_Thor led the way over the hills, and Rue craned her neck to see the newest scenery. Her jaw dropped as she took it in, and she turned to Thor in shock._

_ "What," she asked. "Is that?"_

On the edge of the dry rocky terrain that was this region of the Arena, a blue light swirled around, whirling and dipping with new bolts of electricity that were generated to it by a tall steel tower.

"That," said Loki. "Is our way out of here."

Steve glanced up and saw an aircraft swoop over them, oblivious to their presence, but still seeking them out. He glanced at Thor and Loki. "We'd better get a move on. The Capitol doesn't seem to be very patient at the moment."

Thor nodded, and ran over to the portal. "Brother! How do we operate this contraption?"

"I'm not your brother." sighed Loki, low enough so that Thor couldn't hear. "Stark is going to open it in a moment. Then we shall be able to exit in a timely matter."

Thor nodded, and sat down beside Rue, who looked exhausted, Loki noticed. The travel had taken it's toll on them.

"Why do you do that?" a new voice interrupted his thoughts.

He glanced up to see the girl from District 12, the one they called the girl on fire. She leaned against a rock, watching him with cautious, knowing eyes. It was rare that he saw so much determined knowledge in one so young. He regarded her carefully.

"What is it you see me doing?"

"Every time he calls you his brother. You deny it. Why?"

The question surprised Loki, but he was far above showing it. "Because he is not."

She cocked her head. "He sure seems to think so."

Loki glanced over at Thor, who was laughing with Rue. The child had thoroughly enchanted him, to be certain. He always seemed to be one that leaned toward the innocence of life. It was where their differences began.

"He's not. Not by blood."

Katniss thought about this for a moment. "You're adopted?"

Few caught on so quickly, Loki noticed with slight admiration. He nodded.

"So you are his brother."

Loki rolled his eyes. She had been doing so well. But she had already surpassed what he expected from a mortal, so he really couldn't be that disappointed.

"No."

She arched her eyebrow, doing an impressive imitation of Natasha. "Why?"

Loki smiled. He pointed at Thor, who was flinging water from his bottle at Thresh's head. He laughed as the boy dumped an entire bottle onto him.

"That, girl on fire, is the future King of Asgard. Born the first and only child to the All-father himself. He's a good man, too...He wasn't always. Once upon a time he was a spoiled child. But he has learned. And do you know how he learned?"

She stared at him. "How?"

"Because someone in his own Kingdom incited him to battle against a species of monsters. The Jotun, as they are known commonly. These are the creatures that an Asgardian tells of to his children in the same way that your people speak of monsters that hide in the forest, waiting for naughty children to come wandering. They are a child's worst nightmare. And he rode into battle against them. A battle that our father himself forbid. When our father discovered this, he was furious. He was cast Thor away to Midgard, where the Captain hails from, in hopes that Thor would return as one fit to rule. And there in Midgard, a monster came, made of magic. We call it the Destroyer. It was sent by someone who would have one day called him king."

"You." said Katniss. Loki stared at her in surprise.

"Yes, it was I. And then, I proceeded to lead an attack against the people of Midgard, to destroy those he cared about. And do you know what he did?"

She shook her head, and Loki sighed. "He begged me to come home. He told me that I was still his brother, that we could fix the mess I created together. And I threw it back in his face. I continued to lead the attack. It was only through the people that he calls his friends that Midgard was not lost entirely.

"And then, instead of killing me like he should have, he brought me home, gave me a safe place to live without fear of being attacked by the people of Asgard. Do you know why he did that, girl on fire?"

Katniss pondered this for a moment. "Because he still loves you."

Loki shook his head. "No. Because I am a Jotun. I am the monsters that Asgardians tell their children of. Do you know how many times I heard the words, 'Do as your father says, or the Jotun will come and get you'? Every day. And instead of, I don't know, being something more? I chose to embrace the monster. I let it take control, and I almost killed everyone that he cared for. And even then, even after all of that, he felt that he had to protect me from the people, who would kill me for my heritage"

She stared at him, and Loki smirked. "That is why I refuse to call myself his brother. He is a good man, Katniss Everdeen. He will be a good king. And I, my dear? I am not a good man. I am not even a man"

Katniss sat down on the ground and gazed up at him with her big grey eyes. "But you're trying to be."

Loki sat down beside her and shrugged. "It doesn't really matter now, does it?" He noted that she avoided asking him what a Jotun was, which was either tactful or foolish. He couldn't decide.

Katniss uprooted a handful of dry, stiff grass from the dirt and watched as the wind blew it out of her hand. "When I was little, my father used to walk to the Seam's market from our house. It seemed like forever then, but it was really only a little ways. He'd sometimes take me with him when he needed to trade. And when I got too tired from walking, he'd put me on his shoulders and let me ride there for the rest of the way. It always seemed like I could see forever, that the world had somehow gotten smaller as soon as I was up there."

Loki raised his eyebrows in confusion, but Katniss held up her hand to stop him from interrupting. "One day, we had to go get some eggs from the Seam...one of my father's squirrels were enough to trade for four eggs. It wasn't a lot, but it was a meal for us. I begged him to let me carry the basket, and so he let me, after telling me not to drop it. Then he put me up on his shoulders and we started to go home. But on the way, I dropped it. I don't remember why I did, but I do remember watching the basket with these four perfect eggs fall to the rocks, and then watching the eggs shatter."

She shifted her legs, and smiled at him. "I felt terrible. I cried for those eggs."

Loki chuckled, and she glared at him. "I was three, okay?"

He nodded his head. "Continue. I'm enjoying this tale, although I do confess, girl on fire, you do not seem like the type to cry over food."

She glanced at Peeta. The boy, Loki recalled, was the one she was rumored to be in love with. He resisted the urge to pick her thoughts and discover for himself whether the rumors were true. "You'd be surprised. My father wasn't angry. We just didn't have eggs for supper that night. The next time we went for a walk, he brought the basket, and this time we had enough squirrels to trade for 8 eggs. He put them in the basket, and put me on his shoulders, and then held out the basket for me to hold. I remember telling him no, that I'd drop them again, that we'd waste another squirrel...and do you know what he told me? He said, 'Katniss, in life, there's going to be things that you drop, and things that you break, and things that you downright scramble. But once they're broken, you let them go. Because the next time you pick up a basket full of eggs, they're going to be nice, round, unbroken eggs. And they'll be your new chance. But you don't worry about breaking them, even if it's what happened last time. Because this time is a new shot at bringing those eggs home unbroken.'"

Loki nodded. "He sounds like a wise man."

"He was." said Katniss, a note of melancholy touching her voice. "But do you get it?"

"Did I get what?"

She rolled her eyes, but did so with a smile. "You can't let what you did affect what you're doing right now. You screwed things up. But you're trying to do better. That's enough. Move on. Don't let what happened a year ago stop you from knowing that you can do some good now. It doesn't matter to him-" she pointed at Thor. "And it shouldn't matter to you."

She stood up and brushed her pants off. "Just think about it, anyways." She turned to walk away.

"Katniss." said Loki softly. She turned back to face him, her braid flopping over her shoulder.

"Your father sounds like a good man. I'm sure he is proud to know that he raised a daughter with the same strength and wisdom as I am sure he possessed. Do not doubt yourself, girl on fire. You are capable of doing more than you know."

Her face softened, and what he was sure was a rare smile, a true smile, crossed it.

"Katniss!" called Peeta, pointing towards the east, where they had come from. "Loki, come look at this!"

They ran over to where he was standing. Large billowing clouds of smoke danced across the sky. Katniss' eyes widened, and she grabbed Peeta's arm. "Are they trying to burn us out?"

"I don't know." said Steve, glancing around. "But Stark had better get here soon, or-"

As the words crossed his lips, Tony shot through the portal, wearing his suit. He was followed by a more cautious Clint, who entered with an arrow drawn.

"Miss me, Capsicle?"

"Speak of the devil." muttered Steve. He turned to the rest of the group. "Let's go. We need to get out of here."

"Where's Tasha?" asked Clint, glancing around.

Loki winced. He pointed towards the fire. "Towards there, would be my reckoning."

Clint's face hardened. "Why isn't she with you?"

"Clint." said Steve. "Relax. She went to find a couple strays that we hadn't been able to bring in."

Thor handed Rue to Tony, who glanced at them. "When will she be back?"

"She knows she has two days." said Loki. "I was able to give her a protection spell to help her. She shall be fine, so long as she makes it back here."

Clint shook his head. "I'm going after her."

Steve stopped in his tracks and glanced back at Clint. "Bad call. She can take care of herself."

Clint glared at him. "Because you know her so well, right?"

The two men held their glaring duel for a moment. Steve was bigger than Clint, Loki noted, but Clint was built like a small military tank. Loki felt that if he was one to bet, he would put his money on the Hawk in this duel. Not because of the skills he possessed, although they were rather impressive, but because of the fact that Barton rarely showed emotion on the field, unless someone he cared for was in peril.

"We stick to the plan, Clint." said Steve.

"Because sending Natasha off, on her own, was a part of it in the first place?"

"She's not by herself." said Cato. "Marvel went with her."

"Who the fuck is Marvel?" asked Clint.

"A tribute." said Thor. "One capable of helping her."

Loki could see the fight beginning to drain from Clint. "If she's not back by tonight, I'm going to find them."

"That's a possibility Clint." said Steve. Loki could tell he hated taking charge of the archer like this, and wondered what the harm would be of allowing Barton to go find Natasha was. It would give him something to do other than making a target of everything he could find anyways.

"No, it's not."

Steve rolled his eyes. "Look, let's get the kids out of here, and then we'll talk. Clear?"

Clint held his glare for another moment, but then turned to go towards the portal.

"I'll take them through one at a time." said Tony. He picked up Rue, and nodded towards the exit. "Then we'll get the hell out of here. After we possibly blow up the Capitol."

Loki walked over to Clint, who stood to the side, who was privately fuming and occasionally glancing back at the rising smoke.

"If you should decide to go against the Captain's orders, Barton, I can give you the same spell that I gave to Natasha. It will protect you from the Capitol."

"And why the hell would you give it to me?" asked Clint. Loki winced.

"Because, let's just say that I owe you one. After New York."

A small smirk crossed Clint's face. "Yeah, you do. I'll trust that Steve knows what he's doing. But if I do need it..."

Loki smiled. "You know where to find me."

"Loki," said Thor, watching as Clint tried to explain the concept of a composite bow to Katniss. "Dare I believe you are planning to assist Agent Barton in a mutiny against the Captain's orders?"

"Why brother!" said Loki, with a laugh. "Would I ever do such a thing?"

Thor blinked, taken aback by the sudden warmth in Loki's voice. Then, a huge smile crossed his face. "Did you just-"

"Don't get sentimental." said Loki, rolling his eyes. "I still don't like you."

Thor's smile stayed. "That's alright, _brother._" he said. "I'm not very fond of you, either."

**Am I the only one who loves this chapter? I know there wasn't a ton of action. That's coming. And next chapter, we're catching up with Natasha and Marvel. Will they make it back alright? Stay tuned, ladies and gents!**


End file.
